courtesans

16 May The scandalous story of Harriett Wilson

Posted at 03:16h in courtesans, royal mistresses, Shady Ladies by jenni

An infamous courtesan who took London by storm with her sisters Amy and Sophia, Harriet was the daughter of a humble Swiss clock maker. By the age of 15, she had already elevated herself as the mistress of the Earl of Craven. When that liaison...

21 Dec Zoom Tours in 2020 and 2021

Posted at 00:02h in courtesans, fashion, fashion history, French women, Louvre Museum, nasty women, Paris, Paris tour, royal mistresses, scandals and secrets, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

At the end of this very real annus terribilis, I want to say a few words to you, our loyal readers and attendees. Above all, thanks! Thanks for keeping Shady Ladies Tours alive by reading our blog, attending our Zoom tours, watching our YouTube videos, contributing to our fundraisers—in short, for being a fabulously loyal community. When the pandemic hit the US, in March, it seemed likely to kill the company completely. Who would have thought that 9 months later, as the pandemic continued to rage, we would be putting on our 18th Zoom tour, with audiences regularly over 100, and have gathered over 28,000 views for our videos? It's been a hard year, but ours is a tiny, flourishing corner. And we have a lot more coming after the holidays! Want to find out more?

10 Dec Women of the National Portrait Gallery

Posted at 09:55h in British history, courtesans, royal mistresses, scandals and secrets, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

London's National Portrait Gallery has a great collection of portraits of famous and important people from British history. If you ask the general public what that means, they would tell you it's a great place to see images of kings, queens, prime ministers, and other great people (mostly men). But actually, the National Portrait Gallery’s collection is much more fun than people realize. It contains a lot of portraits of people with really entertaining stories, and these stories often revolve around the one thing that can make historical people seem really relatable: love and sex. And many of the most interesting stories are about *women*.

[* Purchase Tickets To the Scandals & Secrets Tours of the National Portrait Gallery of London *]

14 Aug Paris Women’s History in Père Lachaise

Posted at 00:18h in courtesans, French women, Louvre Museum, Metropolitan Museum, nasty women, Paris, Paris tour, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Bold and sexy women must always have existed everywhere, but in history they seem to be a French specialty. There are a number of places where you can learn about them in Paris. The Louvre and Orsay museums are great, for instance, or the royal...

Gigi, on of the great scandalous French women

19 Feb Scandalous French Women of History

Posted at 22:45h in art history, courtesans, fashion, fashion history, French women, Paris, Paris tour, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Paris is the great city for the history of racy women. Certainly, other places have contributed—particularly Italy during the Renaissance. But from the time the Renaissance took off in France, scandalous French women have taken most of the world prizes for raciness.

13 Feb Scandals and Secrets of Art Museums

Posted at 20:31h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, museum of fine arts, philadelphia museum of art, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

The world's museums are full of scandals and secrets. John Singer Sargent's portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, known simply as Madame X, is a great example. When it

Scandals and Secrets, example Sargent's Madame X Sargent's Madame X, the original, with the fallen shoulder strap

was unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, it caused such a scandal that Sargent's career was almost destroyed. Who after all would want to hire a portrait-painter who caused scandals at the Salon? It was also damaging, of course, for Gautreau's reputation as a society beauty. Her family begged Sargent to withdraw the painting from the Salon, but he refused. After the Salon, however, he repainted the detail that had caused the biggest scandal.

10 Jun The Courtesans And The Art Of Male Maintenance

Posted at 23:21h in courtesans, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

Lady Cavendish of the Devonshire clan pronounced one of their kind to be “a woman of notorious, shameless character.” The memoir of another was said to be a “list of dirty laundry.” In sixteenth century Venice, Sumptuary Laws forbade them from flaunting in public the gold, silver, silks, and gemstones that were the spoils of their sorcery. Nor were they allowed to “stand, kneel, or sit on the benches that in the church are occupied by noblewomen … taking care not to give offence to other decent persons.”

05 Jun The Queen of Courtesans, Imperia Cognati

Posted at 22:32h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum by jenni

Imperia Cognati (also called Imperia La Divina, meaning Imperia The Divine, or The Queen of Courtesans, 3 August 1486 - 15 August 1512), was a Roman courtesan. She has been considered the first celebrity of the class of courtesans, which was created in Rome in the late 15th century.

20 Apr Tapestry of Diane de Poitiers

Posted at 02:14h in art history, courtesans, nasty women, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

Diane de Poitiers, represented on this wall hanging as the goddess Diana, was so powerful in France when she was the mistress of King Henri II that they often signed his correspondence with one word: HENRIDIANE. Find out more about powerful women in history on...

08 Aug Comic Actress Elizabeth Farren

Posted at 10:50h in courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Elizabeth Farren was the great comic actress of 18th century London. She was the mistress of the Earl of Derby and when his wife died, he married her, so she became the Countess of Derby. Don't imagine that this put their relationship beyond the aim...