Portrait of the Chevalier dEon in female costume

Reynolds's portrait of the Chevalier d'Eon in female costume from around 1782 depicts one of the most extraordinary figures of the eighteenth century — the French diplomat, intelligence agent, and soldier who lived the first part of life as a man and the second part as a woman, creating a biographical puzzle that fascinated contemporaries and has continued to generate scholarly debate. Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Eon de Beaumont served as a French secret agent in Russia before becoming a diplomat in London, where the question of his actual sex was the subject of public speculation and even wagering on the London stock market. After 1777, d'Eon lived permanently as a woman, and Reynolds's portrait captures this transition. The painting, now in the Gemäldegalerie Berlin, demonstrates Reynolds's willingness to engage with subjects outside the conventional social categories his portrait practice normally served. D'Eon's case raises questions about gender identity that were as unsettling in Georgian London as in any subsequent era, and Reynolds's portrait preserves a visual record of a figure whose significance continues to grow.

The portrait presents the subject in feminine dress with characteristic refinement. Reynolds's handling navigates the unusual commission with characteristic dignity.