18th-century painting of a transvestite sold in New York

le=”text-align: justify; “>A portrait sold in New York to a British gallery and marked as a ‘woman in a feathered hat’ is in fact a painting of a man dressed as a woman and therefore the earliest known picture of a transvestite, The Daily Mail reports.

Discovered in a Manhattan auction house by art historian Philip Mould, the portrait has now been confirmed to be of Chevalier D’Eon, who was a legendary French 18th-century transvestite.

Feeling that the ‘muscularity of his face’ and a ‘suggestion of stubble’ cast doubt on the labeling of the painting as of a woman, Mould who works with the BBC’s ‘Antiques Roadshow’ went to work cleaning the picture to discover the truth.  Read more... (1149 words, 11 images)

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