Alcine
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Venetian Courtesans
« Thread started on: Jul 10th, 2005, 02:20am » |
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The Rise of the Salon and the Courtesan Class
Courtesans were a social class unto themselves, and found mainly in the city-states of northern Italy during the fifteenth century onward. Before that time, medieval and renaissance social economics were not conducive to the rise of the courtesan social class where women could be educated, well cared for, well dressed and artistically respected.
Before 1400, European life centered on the feudal system where the persons of wealth lived in strict housing conditions, usually within a castle or military fort. Women were housed in women's wings or sections, men in men's wings or sections. Men wanting the company of women would rely on either their wives kept mistresses, house servants or lower class prostitution outside of the castle walls. There was little privacy and intimacy.
When Italy experienced the rise of the merchant class, it saw a rise in city populations. Housing changed from the castle to the private home or manor, where married couples could retire in private bedrooms, children would sleep in their own rooms with nurse maids, servants had their own rooms.
Men and women who once labored in fields flocked to the cities for work. Women who once made little or nothing as field hands could make a better wage as prostitutes in the "castelletto", a municipal brothel. Rome was said to have 7,000 "public women" in 1490. Venice had 11,654 prostitutes and courtesans out of a population of 300,000. Public views of prostitution and marriage aided these women along. The church turned a blind eye to prostitution under the words of St. Augustine who wrote "yet remove prostitution from human affairs and you will pollute all things with lust". The church set up "Soul Houses" or "Mary Magdalene Homes" for recovering prostitutes, some of which had lapses in "recovery".
The city-states encouraged prostitution also, enjoying the tax income made from the trade. Venice was said to have collected enough in one year to pay for sixteen galley ships, a very large sum. Fines for being with a simple prostitute in public were anywhere from 30 ducats to 1 1/2 ducats fine and time spent in jail. It seems this was a particularly common way to detain foreigners who could not tell a "meretrice" or a "puttane" from an upper class courtesan.
Women in the city would find prostitution a means of survival after the death of a spouse or father. Life expectancy rates of the Renaissance were not high. Men and women often died between the ages of 25-30, and generally would have had several marriages, stepchildren or stepparents. Women who had property or cash could find husbands easily, as marriage was more a contract than about love and emotion. Women without property who also had no children could retire to convents, but women with children left penniless had very few means of support.
The renaissance also birthed a new kind of man, the gentleman. He has plenty of manners, but few morals. Men had money and the desire for prestige. To gain prestige within the city environment, the casino and salon were born. The casino was a social club for young men, a place to meet worldly businessmen and gamble. The Salon on the other hand was private entertainment, the combination of in-home theater, poetry reading and medieval feast. Wealthy patrons would invite their social peers to evenings of entertainment, where courtiers and courtesans, artisans, poets, singers, soloists, organists and composers would collect for self-advertisement and social mobility.
The salon was almost a private men's-club, where wives were generally not allowed to attend. Courtesans provided female company at these functions. They were educated and could read and write. Some courtesans like the famous "Imperia" had her own library paid for with her own funds. Veronica Franco was a poetess and was able to have her poems printed in a time where most women could not read, or were limited to reading the Bible.
The invention of the printing press also helped birth the salon as noblemen, gentlemen and "men of letters" were expected to have their works printed and critiqued by the academic community. At the salon, men and women would read their latest poetry, and there is some evidence that plays were read out loud by salon attendees. Some salons had names to indicate what they were about such as "accademia", "philo-drammatico" and "ridotto". Noblemen would talk of their latest purchases, collecting antiquities, medals and portraits was popular. Some even enjoyed embroidery, as did the salon patron Domino Zorzi.
The "cortigana onesta" or "honest courtesan" was held highest in esteem. She was a courtesan who commanded attention and patronage without sex. These women were the highest paid and the most sought out. Also at the salons were non-courtesan women such as Polisena Pecorina, who was called a "gentildonna" and was a singer. "La Bella Borozza" was Antonio Zantani's wife "Helena Barozza Zantani" who wrote poetry and helped to develop the madrigal in Venice. Zantani was one of the few noblemen to proudly display his wife and her accomplishments in the musical salons. Theodora Rizzi was an actress. Gaspara Stampa was a poet-singer. "Gentildonnas" played the role of unattainable and remote lady of virtue and inspiration, which was popularized by Petrarch. The line between "gentildonna" and "cortigana onesta" is very fine, and it is hard to distinguish the two.
The courtesan was not always easy to spot in a crowd. They dressed the same, if not more lavishly than noblewomen. To identify them, cities enacted strict dress codes that were usually not taken seriously by the courtesans themselves. In some cities they were to wear a yellow veil at all times under punishment of flogging. In other cities they were not allowed to wear cloth of gold, or cut jewels which were reserved for nobility. Courtesans often started fashion trends instead of breaking them, as was the case with pearl necklaces in Venice and the heavy use of lace.
Courtesans were just as well cared for as noblewomen. They would spend hours bleaching their hair blonde by applying a bleaching paste and sitting in the sunshine. They would eat well, as many Italian men found plump women the most attractive. Agnolo Firenzuolo described the ideal woman as fat and Federico Luigini da Udine said she was plump with chubby hands. Portraits of Venetian women of the 1500's show stuffed gowns made to look thicker, full necks and rounded shoulders. Woodcuts of the late 1500's show the rise of the "peascod" belly in women's dresses a trend that caught on in men's doublets.
Each region had it's fashions. Venetian courtesans would wear chopines or ""zilve", tall stacked shoes first designed to keep a woman's feet out of the mud and muck. They grew higher and higher, the tallest surviving pair nearly 30 cm. They carried Islamic inspired fans made of rectangular paper mounted on a stick, printed with city scenes, witty sayings or more often than not, amorous images. Masks were popular in Venice not only during Carnival season, but year round. In 1339, laws were put on the books against the improper use of masks for robbery and murder, but women and men would wear them in the casinos and to travel about the city anonymously.
Lorenzo Valla wrote "why are we so unjust to those whose beauty resides in other places?" encouraging the display of flesh. Venetian courtesans typically wore their gowns cut low across the breast or over the shoulder, with an open stomach and ladder lacing. Roman courtesans, who had to be less revealing in the Vatican city wore gowns of Spanish cut, buttoned up to the neck with thick neck ruffs. Women of Florence wore off the shoulder gowns with a "fichu" or neck scarf, creating a plunging V neckline. Brecian women wore squared necklines, while the women of Parma wore thickly padded gowns with a fichu.
Courtesans could be found wearing men's clothes during Carnival season, sloppily buttoned. Some adopted short hairstyles to attract male customers who enjoyed sodomy but could not risk homosexuality.
Birth control was basically non-existent. The condom was developed in 1564 by Fallopius to protect against syphilis and birth control was a by-product. Courtesans had just as many children as did married women but did not enjoy the security of marriage. Some illegitimate children were supported by their mother's patron/father but most children were supported by their mothers. Veronica Franco had six from different fathers and was able to secure her three sons with positions from her own funds.
Disease was rampant amongst courtesans and prostitutes. The most common disease was syphilis and given the name of "the French pox" by the Italians. Of course, the French called "the Italian Pox" and the Spanish called it the "English pox" etc. In 1522 Venice made long lists of procuresses and brothels in an effort to limit "venerea". They had special hospitals set up just to treat it.
England, France and Spain never developed the courtesan class quite like the Italians did. English men did not develop the salon, and instead developed public theater. They continued to use servants and brothels for female company. France quickly adopted salons and the courtesan in the 1600's and grew fascinated with actresses and singers as seen in the writings of Jacques Casanova. Spain, who constantly suffered under the watchful eye of the Inquisition, was never able to develop the salon and the courtesan class. They preferred "the kept woman" system where mistresses lived away from the main house and were dependent upon one patron.
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