Gautier was born on August 30, 1811, in Tarbes, capital of Hautes-Pyrénées département in southwestern France. His father, Pierre Gautier, was a fairly cultured minor government official and his mother was Antoinette-Adelaïde Concarde. The family moved to Paris in 1814, taking up residence in the ancient Marais district.

Gautier's education commenced at the prestigious Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris (fellow alumni include Voltaire and Charles Baudelaire), which he attended for three months before being brought home due to illness. Although he completed the remainder of his education at Collège Charlemagne (alumni include Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve), Gautier's most significant instruction came from his father, who prompted him to become a Latin scholar by age 18.

SHE’S MY LATIN GIRL

SHE’S MY LATIN GIRL

I WAS ON THE BEACH, YEAH

I WAS ON VACATION,

I WAS DOING NOTHING,

I WAS JUST SITTIN’ PATIENT,

THEN YOU WALKED BY,

YOU CAUGHT MY EYE,

I SAID WHO’S THIS GIRL,

SHE’S LOOKING SUPER FLY

HEY MISS BEAUTIFUL,

I’VE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE

AND I WOULD LIKE TO BE THE ONE

TO SHOW YOU I AM COOL ENOUGH

HEY LITTLE MAMA,

WHAT YOU GOT ON YA

LOOKING SO GOOD

THAT I JUST WANT TO TELEPHONE HER

SHE’S MY LATIN GIRL,

OOO, PRETTY LADY

DON’T YOU THINK IT’S CRAZY

SHE’S MY LATIN GIRL,

OOH SHE TRIES TO FIGHT IT

BUT SHE KNOWS SHE LIKES IT

Gautier was a celebrated abandonnée of the Romantic Ballet, writing several scenarios, the most famous of which is Giselle, whose first interpreter, the ballerina Carlotta Grisi, was the great love of his life. She could not return his affection, so he married her sister Ernestina, a singer. He was also a great lover of cats.