Shady Ladies

06 Mar Frédéric Chopin and George Sand

Posted at 10:58h in art history, Paris, Shady Ladies by jenni

Based in part on a Shady Ladies lecture by Edith de Beauville and historian Professor Andrew Lear George Sand (born Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin-1804-1876), was one of the most popular writers of her era, respected and befriended by peers Honoré de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert, Ivan...

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.

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.”

27 Apr The Scandalous Life of Duchess of Berry

Posted at 03:24h in art history, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

The scandalous Duchess of Berry was born as Marie Louise Élisabeth d’Orleans on 20 August 1695 at the Palace of Versailles to Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, who was a legitimized daughter of Louis XIV of France. She was near death several...

23 Apr Watch: Virginia Hall America’s Most Successful Female Spy

Posted at 01:58h in nasty women, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

Virginia Hall, a one-legged socialite from Baltimore whom the CIA Museum would later hail as the office’s most successful American female spy of the Second World War. She was the most highly decorated female civilian during World War II. Watch and learn more about this...

23 Apr Watch: The Tragic Story of Audrey Munson

Posted at 01:48h in art history, beauty standards, fashion, fashion history, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by jenni

Not many people know Audrey Munson by name—but if you’ve spent any time in New York City, you’ve seen her face. Munson’s likeness tops some of the city’s grandest buildings. Even when she is remembered, it’s often for the more scandalous and tragic events in...