#COURCELLES

[detournementsmineurs]

"Masque Empreinte" plâtre polychrome de Jean Cocteau pour "Le Sang d'un Poète" (circa 1930), "Affiche" lithographie de Jean Cocteau pour le "Testament d'Orphée" (1960), "Tête de Cheval" de Jean Cocteau pour le "Testament d'Orphée" (1960), "Maquette" d'Henri Schmitt pour "Le Grand Méliès" de Georges Franju (1952), "Ailes d'Oiseau" et "Masque en Forme de Tête d'Aigle" de Christian Courcelles pour le film "Judex" de Georges Franju (1964) présenté dans les collections du "Musée Méliès" de la Cinémathèque Française, juin 2025.

[unteriors]

Rue Francisco Ferrer, Gouy-lez-Piéton, Hainaut.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Gare de Courcelles-Levallois station in Paris

French vintage postcard

[reginasbread]

Le Rempart des Béguines (The Beguines), 1972

[virtualpetals]

me and somebody's mother

[ma-pi-ma]

Finché si ama non si riflette, e quando si riflette non si ama più.

Pierre-Adrien de Courcelle

[sobbingsapphic]

the contrast in their expressions…

[bowtothewitch]

"Teacher's pet If I'm so special, why am I secret?"

[amphibious-thing]

Historically d'Eon is career-oriented lady who lacks interest in engaging romantic relationship, neither with man nor woman but I heard somehow d'Eon is aroace but sapphic

In fictional media if d'Eon getting in romantic relationship even platonically, would you rather see her with a man or woman?

Somehow, d'Eon seemingly giving me sapphic vibes and some people shipped her with Julie d'Aubigny.

Fictional media often pairs d'Eon with women but I think it's more due to a combination of transphobia and heteronormativity than any basis in historical fact. They see her as a man (transphobia) so she must be with a woman (heteronormativity). I suspect it is also somewhat inspired by Gaillardet's novel Mémoires du Chevalier d'Éon in which d'Eon has numerous female lovers including Empress Elizabeth and Queen Charlotte.

In terms of actual history I've never seen much evidence that d'Eon was romantically or sexually interested in anyone. In fact she seems to indicate that she was not interested in romantic or sexual relationships. And it's not just that she was career-oriented either as this continues after her career was essentially over.

In her 1764 book Lettres, mémoires et négociations particuliéres du chevalier d'Éon she writes:

Ma vie eſt aſſez connue & l'on ſait que j'ai toujours vecu dans tous les païs ſans chevaux, ſans cabriolet, ſans chien, ſans chat, ſans perroquet, & fans maitreſſe. [My life is well known and it is known that I have always lived in all countries without horses, without a cabriolet, without a dog, without a cat, without a parrot, and without a mistress.]

~ V1 p83-84 [translated with google translate]

In 1771 she writes of “the natural lack of passion in my temperament, which has prevented my engaging in amorous intrigues”. (D’Eon to the Comte de Broglie, 7 May 1771. Translated by Alfred Rieu, D'Eon de Beaumont, His Life and Times, p141)

In her autobiography she styles herself La Pucelle de Tonnerre. This was an allusion to Joan of Arc who was known as La Pucelle d'Orléans. "Pucelle" quite literally means virgin.

That being said there is some evidence of people who were interested in d'Eon even if she did not reciprocate. Probably most notably Mme de Courcelle (and her daughter Constance) and the Marquis de l'Hospital. There was also the Marquis de Pommereau who was, allegedly, sent to England by Louis XVI to court d'Eon. When Pommereau failed Beaumarchais took his place. D'Eon and Beaumarchais engaged in mutual flirting and there was rumours of an engagement. However both may have had ulterior motives. Regardless the relationship between d'Eon and Beaumarchais came quite dramatically to an end.

If d'Eon ever genuinely considered marrying Pommereau or Beaumarchais she seems to have decided she was happier without a husband. In her autobiography she writes of Madame and Mesdemoiselles Genet:

They had to please both their mistress, who was a sovereign, and their husbands, who dominated them. For I who have neither husband, nor master, nor mistress, I would like to enjoy the privilege of obeying only myself and good sense.

~ The Chevalière d’Eon, The Maiden of Tonnerre p16

[detournementsmineurs]

"Masque en Forme de Tête d'Aigle" de Christian Courcelles pour le film "Judex" de Georges Franju (1964) présenté dans les collections du "Musée Méliès" de la Cinémathèque Française, juin 2025.

[unteriors]

Rue Albert Lemaitre, Courcelles, Hainaut.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Fairies' rock in Courcelles, Picardy region of France

French vintage postcard

[aldebaranarfeiniel]

Thanh you anon for making me suffer even more

[roses-and-grimoires]

Prompt #4: Reticent

Characters: Fleurant, Vedastus ( @thedarknesssings ), Kasimir ( @zoetic-tome )

Something had changed.

It was hard for Fleurant to put his finger exactly on what, but something had. At breakfast the mood is more subdued; usually the table would be filled with the sound of conversation and laughter as the three shared their plans for the day, or else groused about the weather and how their old bones did not appreciate the rain and snow.

Today, however, the other two seemed oddly quiet, and while he wasn't sure, he could have sworn that he saw Vaast and Kasmimir exchanging looks with each other when he returned from going to fetch the orange juice.

No, something was definitely amiss, but he had no idea what, let alone how to go about bringing it up. Fleurant prided himself on being a researcher and a scholar, and it wasn't exactly very scientific to go accusing one's partners of.... something, based upon just an odd feeling that had settled into the pit of his stomach.

Maybe it was just that the storm last night had been extra bad, he rationalizes. He knew that they had started to bother the other two more than more over the past few moons. It was not a particularly pleasant thought, but it made a certain amount of sense to him -- and proved that he needed to double his efforts.

Maybe he should even take a sabbatical, so that he could focus his efforts entirely upon his research. His colleagues would not be happy about it, of course, since it would mean that they would have cover his lectures, but they would have to forgive him eventually. Unlike how he would never forgive himself if something happened to one of the pair sitting across the table because he dithered.

He nods once to himself. Between spending extra hours in the workshop and the blood that his hunter was hopefully already starting to track down, he had to come up with something. He had to.

[hussyknee]

Really love that in Phedre's Trilogy she and Joscelin are petty, self-involved disasters whose motto is "fuck it, we ball" and literally can't communicate to save their fucking lives, and in Imriel's Trilogy he's like "my foster mother is a goddess, the most perfect human, an angel on earth, my foster father is the greatest warrior alive, full of wisdom and dignity, they're practically telepathically linked by love, have never done a thing wrong in their lives—".

[zareleonis]

The underpainting for "Kushiel's Avatar III" by Tran Nguyen