SOLD - François Timoléon de Choisy 1644 - 1724 Painting

Oil & mixed media on gesso board De Choisy was a French transvestite, abbé, and author. As was the usual practice from the mid 16th century until the early 20th century, young boys in the Western world were ‘unbreeched’ and wore gowns or dresses until an age that varied between two and eight. What was unusual however, and has been attributed to a whim of his mother’s, was that the young François continued to be dressed in female attire throughout his adolescence. Her reasons might have been political, as proffering the young François as a playmate for her friend Anne of Austria’s son Philippe I Duc d’Orleans (known as little Monsieur) would no doubt further her own position at court. Queen Anne, referred to Philippe as “my little girl” and encouraged him also to dress in feminine costume, because it was seen to reduce any potential threat he may have posed to his older brother, King Louis XIV. Extravagant ‘play-dates’ were arranged with Mme de Choisy using her son as a small instrument of courtly diplomacy. “I was dressed as a girl,” recounts Choisy, “every time that little Monsieur came to our house, and he came twice or thrice a week. I had my ears pierced, and wore diamonds, patches, and all the little gewgaws to which one becomes easily used and which one parts with so hardly. Monsieur, who loved all that, showed me boundless friendship.” As an adult, De Choisy took up male dress briefly whilst pursuing his studies, but soon went back to his preferred female clothing. He enjoyed a brief acting career in which he delighted in fooling a troop of male admirers. Many young women of the day would call on him for fashion advice, encouraged by their mothers. He enjoyed their company greatly, and at least one pregnancy was produced from these visits. Eventually however his increasingly extravagant toilettes and exhibitionist behaviour earned him a public rebuke and exile from Paris. He visited Rome in 1676, and shortly afterwards a serious illness brought about a sudden conversion to religion. In 1685, in a rather ill-considered attempt to redeem his reputation, he accompanied the Chevalier de Chaumont on a mission to Siam to try to convert the King to Catholicism. He was ordained priest, and received various ecclesiastical preferments, but the mission itself was a dismal failure, both diplomatically and financially. He wrote a number of historical and religious works, but is most remembered for his gossipy ‘Memoires’, in which he draws vivid portraits of his contemporaries and are filled with fascinating details of court life at the time. The accounts of his adventures as a woman are credited as the first transvestite diaries. Original work available through The Martin Tinney Gallery, Cardiff

Painting:Oil on Wood

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:13.5 W x 12 H x 1.5 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.