ericjosephmaurice

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Sentenced to switch gender. Charles-Geneviève-Louis-Auguste-André-Timothée d'Éon de Beaumont (5 October 1728 – 21 May 1810) was, among other things, a spy. And a good one! While living in England he fooled everyone: “he” apparently was a “she”, living as a man. “She” tricked everyone, acting as a man to access male privileges. Éon was ultimately sent back to France, where King Louis XVI and the court ordered “her” to dress appropriately to “her” sex. Éon complied, and lived a long life as a woman... for the most part. “She” was banished from the court because “she” dared to go in public again wearing male clothes.

Éon lived poorly, in retreat, and ultimately died. The doctor who was taking care of the deceased “woman” find out that “she” really was a natural born “he”. 

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One of the few successful lobotomy. In 1948, Alys Robi had it all. She was an immensely famous Canadian singer who was charming listeners in French, English and Spanish. She was often travelling to New York or Paris to perform. She was made internationally known when she appeared on the first BBC programme in London. She made the greatest singers jealous of her talents and looks (Edith Piaf, to name one).

While in Hollywood to sign a new movie contract that would propels her to the very top, she had a car accident. Going through a bad break up and feeling “a bit down”, she was misdiagnosed and sent to an asylum. Against her will, she was subject to a controversial surgery: a lobotomy. A part of her brain was removed, and it was said in those days that it would “cure her”. Most people did not survive this to tell the tale... but Alys did. She is one of the only few that can actually say that the procedure saved her life.

Unfortunately, by the time she was out of hospitals and other institutions, she had fallen in the unknown. Mental troubles being a big no-no at the time, she never regained the international fame she once had. She lived and thrived though... all the way to 2011.

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Of gross indecent victorian men & women. In November, 1891, in Montreal, two labourers – John Pettigrew and William Gray – became quite drunk. They started to have sex... in public. The two men had the misfortune of being stumbled upon in the act by a pair of constables named Labaise and McLaughlin.

There were many stories of this sort in Canadian newspapers, all involving gay men and women who were just thriving to live their lives. One of the most talked about homosexual scandal (even in the New York Times!) was what happened in Saint-Jean-Richelieu, years before the Pettigrew/Gray news: a private gentlemen hunting club turned out to be a gay club. This sparked the very first police raid in the country.

Pictures above are not related, but shows people during the same era who were expressing their affection to their loved ones.

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When you just can’t handle the truth. Marguerite Bourgeoys was one of the most important woman living in Montreal in the 17th century. Founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, she was so important that at the moment of her death the prominent artist Pierre Le Ber painted a portrait of her. Over the next 200+ years, the Notre-Dame nuns were the keepers and exhibitors of this important work of art... this said, somewhere in the 19th century they started altering the painting to “beautify” their beloved Marguerite.

In the 1960s, the Saint-Gabriel farm became an heritage site, and a restoration campaign started on the portrait. Underneath layers of paint, there she was - eyes half closed, hands placed in a prayer motion... her skin pale and visibly dead.

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Death by Fashion. In the second half of the 19th-century, fashion ruled every aspect of a woman’s life. One would have to dress appropriately for every type of occasions, following the ever changing fads and trends. For a couple decades, the crinolines were the must-have under garments. They were often made of steel... which was proven to be a deadly device. If the wearer falls in deep water, she would be pulled to the bottom and drown because of the weight. If she walks too close to an open flame (candles, lamps, etc.), her fluffed up skirts would engulfed her in fire.

That was the faith of Oscar Wilde’s half-sisters, Emily and Mary. Both were attending a dance and one of the sisters’ walked too close to an open fireplace. The cage-like crinoline made it a very fertile spot for a little cozy fire. Both girls died because the second sister tried to help extinguished the flames.

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Wait… Stop digging! What is that? In the 1750s italians started the first archeological digging campaign in Pompeii, the infamous vanished roman city. They found a lot of interesting artefacts, but among them there was quite a large amount of…. dicks! Penises everywhere: in paintings, on walls, statues showing how to penetrate, lamps, etc, etc, etc. The 18th-century peeps were not quite ready for such erotic art, so they hid it all in a secret part of the Borbonico Museum and called it “Gabinetto Segreto” (Secret Cabinet).

Only gents from upper classes could see it, if they could show to the museum guards the proper invitation cards. The general public had to wait the 1960s to discover the entire collection.

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The questionable taste of Mrs Eaton. In 1889, Timothy Eaton and his family moved to their brand new massive Toronto house, in the Annex neighbourhood.  The house would serve a business purpose: showing the world how the wealthy store founder leads his life. His wife decorated the house in what was seen then as very over the top and a bit too extravagant. Nowadays, we would label this as “nouveau riche white trash”, I suppose.

In the 1960s, years after Timothy’s death, the house was demolished to make room for another type of folly: a Uno Prii’s ultra modern visionary apartment building.

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Victorians were interesting creatures. While they originated the social rules and strict etiquette that shaped our contemporary world, they still did this “ambiguous gender” thing. Very young children, either boys or girls, would be dressed exactly the same: puff sleeves, skirts, pleats, ruffles, feminine bootees... This neutral yet feminine fashion is later dropped as the kid gets older. Girls would be trained in corsets and boys would be introduce to pants and the men’s world. Spot the girl in the above pictures!

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Victoria Museum (now Museum of Nature), Ottawa, Ontario, Canada It's 1899. A new Beaux-Arts Style building is being erected to house a museum. David Ewart is the architect, and the government is bleeding more than $1 000 000 on the project. What can go wrong? Well...  only a decade after it's completion, the front tower is sinking and tilting. Turns out, they built on clay and on top of a seismic failure. The fix: demolition of the centre tower. The fix to the fix came in 2010: they rebuilt a tower... made of glass. Which looks like a modernist lantern to me.

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Saint-Anthony Framed Reliquary, 19th century This intricate little frame encapsulate a small chip of a tooth, physical remain of a deceased saint. This relic was also dedicated to many other saints, to create some sort of shrine. It is beautifully finished with "paperolles", paper swirls that embellished the surrounded tooth piece. The bigger the remains, the more awesome gruesome is the reliquary. 

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Unpacking the Statue of Liberty, 1885 After 2 years spent in Bartholdi's studio, and after being assembled for the first time in a parisian courtyard, the famous Statue of Liberty was taken out of 241 crates, in New York. Every pieces... except one. The arm and torch of the famous lady was installed in Madison Square Garden from 1876 to 1882. The idea was to raise funds for the completion of the project. The public could climb up the limb for fifty cents. $0.50 in today's cash is $10.87 USD.

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Woman's Headdress, mid-19th century For some mysterious reasons, the early victorian ladies had a fascination for the fake and trompe-l'oeil. It was indeed very "au courant" to cover your ears and head with silk flowers, wax fruits, ribbons, hair extensions, feathers, etc... Who said less is more? MORE is more.

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The Grizzly-Bear Chair, 1865 "By touching a cord, the head of the monster grizzly bear with jaws extended, would dart our in front from under the seat, snapping and gnashing its teeth."  Weirdly enough, the chair did not survive one of the White House remodel in the 20th century.

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Meet Madame Clémentine Delait (1865-1939) Sometimes, for fun, she would actually dress as a man. "Scuse me miss, I found a hair in my soup.".....

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18th century painted porcelain dentures... More affordable options would be made of wood, horse or human teeth. Another common procedure: paying a young man for his healthy teeth. A "surgeon" would then perform a transplant. Yikes.

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Prosthetic nose, circa 1850.  The unfortunate owner gave back her "fake" nose to her physician because she had remarried, and her new man preferred her without it... Love. The real deal.