Chevalier d'Eon

Art Historical Context

Step into the intrigue of 18th-century Europe with *Chevalier d'Eon*, a captivating stipple engraving from 1787 now housed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department. This portrait depicts Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont, the enigmatic French diplomat, soldier, and spy famously known as the Chevalier don. Living a life of gender fluidity, d'Éon served as a dragoon captain and secret agent before adopting women's attire publicly in the 1770s, sparking endless fascination and debate across courts from Versailles to London. Crafted through the delicate stipple engraving technique—pioneered in the late 18th century by artists like Richard Earlom—this print uses fine dots to achieve subtle tonal gradations, mimicking the soft, painterly effects of oil portraits. Attributed to engravers Benjamin Beale Evans and Thomas Chambars, possibly after designs by miniaturist Richard Cosway, the modest plate size (6 7/8 × 4 7/16 in.) made it ideal for fashionable collectors' albums. Acquired via the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1924, it exemplifies how prints democratized elite portraiture. Culturally, this artwork captures the era's obsession with d'Éon's mystique, blending espionage, scandal, and identity in a single image. A testament to Enlightenment curiosity, it invites visitors to ponder the blurred lines of gender and performance that still resonate today.

About the Artist

Benjamin Beale Evans|Richard Cosway|Charles Geneviève Louise Auguste André Timothée d'Eon de Beaumont|Thomas Chambars (British|British|Italian|American) · 1765 |1564 |1728 |1738 –1824 |1616 |1815 |1820

British, ca. 1765–1824|British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon|Italian, Florence 1728–1815 Lisbon|American, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 1738–1820 London