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Bartola

(active 1849-1890), Exhibited as one of 'The Last of the Ancient Aztecs' or 'The Aztec Lilliputians'

Sitter in 1 portrait
Bartola and his sister Maximo suffered from microcephaly, a neuro-developmental disorder resulting in reduced growth, head size and impaired intellectual development. Discovered by a Spanish trader named Ramon Selva who told their Mexican peasant parents that he would take the siblings to the US and have them treated, he instead sold them to a promoter. They were exhibited by Barnham Circus which exploited their physical attributes and disorder and created a myth about the pair being part of a lost Aztec civilisation. They were invited to meet the US President Filllmore and were taken to England in 1853 where they were exhibited at the Ethnological Society and met the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace.

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Maximo and Bartola

by W. & D. Downey
albumen carte-de-visite, late 1870s?
NPG x132258

Related People

Maximo (sister)

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BAME sitters

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Bartola