Courtesan  

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[[Image:Olympia (1863) by Édouard Manet.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]'' by [[Édouard Manet]], painted in [[1863]], depicting a [[courtesan]].]] [[Image:Olympia (1863) by Édouard Manet.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''[[Olympia (painting)|Olympia]]'' by [[Édouard Manet]], painted in [[1863]], depicting a [[courtesan]].]]
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 +A '''courtesan''' is a term descendent from French ''[[courtisane]]'', from Italian ''[[cortigiana]]'', feminine of ''[[cortigiano]]'' ‘[[courtier]]’, from ''[[corte]]'' ‘[[court]]’.
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A '''courtesan''' in [[16th century|mid-16th century]] usage was a [[high-class]] [[prostitute]] or [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]], especially one associated with rich, powerful, or [[upper-class]] men who provided [[luxuries]] and status in exchange for her services. A French dictionary published in 1873 describes a courtesan as "toute femmes de mauvaise vie qui est au-dessus des simple prostituées." (All women of vice who are above the simple prostitutes.) In [[Renaissance|Renaissance Europe]], courtesans played an important role in upper-class society, sometimes taking the place of wives at social functions. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men would often seek sexual gratification and companionship from a courtesan. A '''courtesan''' in [[16th century|mid-16th century]] usage was a [[high-class]] [[prostitute]] or [[Mistress (lover)|mistress]], especially one associated with rich, powerful, or [[upper-class]] men who provided [[luxuries]] and status in exchange for her services. A French dictionary published in 1873 describes a courtesan as "toute femmes de mauvaise vie qui est au-dessus des simple prostituées." (All women of vice who are above the simple prostitutes.) In [[Renaissance|Renaissance Europe]], courtesans played an important role in upper-class society, sometimes taking the place of wives at social functions. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men would often seek sexual gratification and companionship from a courtesan.

Revision as of 11:29, 6 December 2008

Olympia by Édouard Manet, painted in 1863, depicting a courtesan.
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Olympia by Édouard Manet, painted in 1863, depicting a courtesan.

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A courtesan is a term descendent from French courtisane, from Italian cortigiana, feminine of cortigiano ‘courtier’, from corte ‘court’.

A courtesan in mid-16th century usage was a high-class prostitute or mistress, especially one associated with rich, powerful, or upper-class men who provided luxuries and status in exchange for her services. A French dictionary published in 1873 describes a courtesan as "toute femmes de mauvaise vie qui est au-dessus des simple prostituées." (All women of vice who are above the simple prostitutes.) In Renaissance Europe, courtesans played an important role in upper-class society, sometimes taking the place of wives at social functions. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men would often seek sexual gratification and companionship from a courtesan.

Courtesans usually enjoyed more freedoms than was typical of women at the time. For example, they were financially stable and independent. Being in control of their own resources meant that they did not need to rely on their spouses or male relatives to survive, as was the case for the majority of women.

Contents

Famous courtesans

The term "courtesan" has often been used in the political context to damage the reputation of a powerful woman, or disparage her importance. Particularly striking examples of this are when the title was applied to the Byzantine empress Theodora, who had started life as a burlesque actress but later became the wife of the Emperor Justinian and, after her death, an Orthodox saint; the term "courtesan" has also been disparagingly and inaccurately applied to influential women like Anne Boleyn, Madaline Bishop, Diane de Poitiers, Mathilde Kschessinska, Pamela Harriman and Eva Perón.

17th century and before

18th and 19th centuries

In fiction

  • Inara Serra, a 26th century Alliance companion in Joss Whedon's TV series Firefly.
  • The Woman of the Camilias was a novel about a courtesan by French author Alexandre Dumas, fils that was turned into the opera La Traviata by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. In the opera, the courtesan's name is "Violetta". "La Traviata" in Italian translates "The Wayward One".
  • Satine played by Nicole Kidman, an actress/courtesan who falls in love with a penniless poet/writer played by Ewan McGregor, in the movie Moulin Rouge!.
  • Phèdre nó Delaunay, the premier courtesan of Terre D'Ange in Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel's Legacy novels
  • The movie Dangerous Beauty, starring Catherine McCormack, tells the story of Veronica Franco, a Venetian courtesan.
  • Nana, in Emile Zola's famous novel of 1880 should count as a courtesan
  • In Sarah Dunant's In the Company of the Courtesan, Fiammetta Bianchini, a renowned courtesan of Rome, and her sharp-witted dwarf rise to success among the intrigue and secrets of Renaissance Venice.
  • In John Cleland's Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, Fanny goes from poor orphaned country girl to wealthy skilled courtesan eventually finding her one true love and retiring to marriage. Her history is told in the first person through several letters to friends detailing her life as a courtesan.
  • Gigi is a 1944 novel by the French writer Colette about a wealthy cultured man of fashion who discovers he is in love with a young Parisian girl being groomed for a career as a grande cocotte and eventually marries her.

Citations

Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Courtesan" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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