A clean-up but no shave as Mould outs first cross-dresser

IT was the five o’clock shadow that gave it away. When London dealer Philip Mould spotted this 18th century portrait in a general paintings sale at the New York auctioneers Thomas Cornell Galleries in November last year, he thought it to be of a rather masculine middle-aged lady.

So did the auctioneers, who catalogued the oil on canvas, which was part of the collection of Ruth S…

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