Hygeia as Muse

line will take us hours maybe; / Yet if it does not seem a moment's thought, / Our stitching and un-stitching has been naught, " wrote William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) about the creative process (1). For sheer spontaneity , evocativeness, and impeccable draftsmanship, he might have been describing the art of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The artist's speed at work astonished his friends. Having resolved technical problems in his mind, during the gestation of the image or in countless sketches, photographs , and studies from life, he sang and joked during the brief execution of the work. Lautrec's remarkable legacy seems to have started at birth in Albi, one of the oldest cities in France, into a wealthy family with ties to the Counts of Toulouse (2). He was an engaging, rambunctious child with precocious wit. At age 4, he wanted to sign the register at his brother's christening. Reminded that he could not write, he said, " It doesn't matter, I'll draw an ox. " That was his earliest known work (3). By age 10, he was an inveterate sketcher of people and animals, illustrating everything he touched. In what would appear an idyllic childhood, signs of trouble, perhaps the underpinnings of aristocratic lineage, started with the death of his young sibling before age 1. Henri, whose parents were fi rst cousins, was also frail. His mother took him out of school and moved to the country, where she devoted herself to his care. When he was 13, his life began to change: " I fell off a low chair onto the fl oor and broke my left thigh, " he wrote a friend. After a long convalescence, he could only walk lopsidedly " like a duck. " Fifteen months later, he fell again: " The second fracture was caused by a fall scarcely heavier than the fi rst " (3). Henri, it appeared, had some unknown bone disease, a congenital condition, possibly pycnodys-ostosis (4). Despite the best available care and while the rest of his body continued to grow, the legs atrophied. He supported himself on a cane, which was surprisingly short since his trunk and arms were of normal length. Walking caused him pain and embarrassment. Though limited by physical disability, he remained upbeat. " I am small but I am not a dwarf, " he wrote, " ... no urchins have ever bothered me " in the …