Chevalier D’Eon: life and Queer identity

About

This talk will focus on the portrait of D’Eon before moving on to a light-hearted discussion exploring the wider aspects and themes of D’Eon’s life in the context of the social norms of the time compared to how we understand Queer identity today.

Thomas Stewart’s 1792 portrait of the Chevalier is the earliest painted portrait of a trans person in the National Portrait Gallery's Collection. Through painted and printed works, learn more about the celebrated soldier, diplomat and fencer with Timberlina, whose work explores narratives around Queer identity, environmentalism, social history and community spirit.

About:
Timberlina has been hosting intriguing and irreverent museum tours and events for over two decades. 

Their work spans the creative and heritage sectors often reflecting LGBT and Queer narratives and ideas around identity, social structures and environmentalism. They produced the first Queer Late at the V&A in 2009 and have subsequently hosted tours at the NPG as well as Sir John Soane’s Museum and Wallace Collection among others. 

Of late they have been working on salacious historical tours round the cobbled streets of Rye, a small medieval town in East Sussex, where they currently reside.