Vesque Sisters

The sisters attended weekly shows where the performers were sketched live at both circus and variety theaters.

Their extensive journal entries from 1904 to 1947 added fascinating information and insights, written in a vigorous style and teeming with gossip about the circus community, with a marvellous eye for detail.

They left when its style became too modern for their taste and found work at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, depicting natural history specimens, especially those that were entomological.

However, a few years before her own death, Juliette started donating it piecemeal to the Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires, founded by the circus enthusiast, Georges-Henri Rivière.

After Juliette's death the remainder of the collection of some 8 000 drawings, including the sisters' journal, found their way to the Musée national des Arts et Traditions Populaires by 1968.