The painter of the Moulin Rouge's favorite dessert

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born on November 24, 1864, in Albi, France. He was an aristocrat, the son and heir of Comte Alphonse-Charles de Toulouse and last in line of a family that dated back a thousand years. Henri's father was rich, handsome, and eccentric. His mother was overly devoted to her only living child. Henri was weak and often sick. By the time he was 10 he had begun to draw and paint.

At 12 young Toulouse-Lautrec broke his left leg and at 14 his right leg. The bones failed to heal properly, and his legs stopped growing. He reached young adulthood with a body trunk of normal size but with abnormally short legs. Deprived of the kind of life that a normal body would have permitted, Toulouse-Lautrec lived wholly for his art. He stayed in the Montmartre section of Paris, the center of the cabaret entertainment and bohemian life that he loved to paint. Throughout his life Henric sought refuge in drink, particularly absinthe, and in the 1890s the drinking started to affect his health. He was confined to a sanatorium and to his mother's care at home, but Toulouse-Lautrec died on September 9, 1901, at the family chateau of Malrome.

His paintings and posters -particularly the Moulin Rouge group- have come into great demand and are much sought after by collectors and museums of the world. Henri was a true Frenchman and enjoyed his food, especially desserts. Having grown up in a very well to do home with a large kitchen staff he learned to appreciate all the best of French cooking. He is said to have been especially fond of Chocolate Soufflée.

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