Shady Ladies

30 May Shady Ladies of the Philadelphia Museum

Posted at 01:54h in art history, courtesans, philadelphia museum of art, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is not as big as the Metropolitan, and it might not be possible to arrange all the theme tours that we can in NYC. However, it has some wonderful Shady Ladies in its collection. Indeed, it has a great prize: Elizabeth Vigée Le Brun's iconic portrait of Madame du Barry, the last royal mistress of ancien régime France, whose famously seductive, almond-shaped eyes are the focus of the painting.

03 May Shady Ladies tour or Nasty Women?

Posted at 15:06h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, nasty women, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

People often ask me what the difference is between the Shady Ladies tour and the Nasty Women tour—whether the themes are really different, whether in short they should go on both tours or only one. In fact, the difference between the two tours is very clear, and there is almost no overlap between them. The Shady Ladies tour is about royal mistresses and courtesans, fascinating categories of women that were prominent in cultures distant from our own—and which are major themes in the art of all those cultures, from ancient Greece to Edo-period Japan to Renaissance Italy to Belle Epoque France. The Nasty Women, instead, is about feisty, path-breaking women—women who had more power and/or independence than we usually think women in the past had.

25 Apr Fun, lesser-known sights on our Paris tour

Posted at 01:50h in art history, courtesans, Paris tour, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Every Paris tour should include some major sights: even if you've seen them before, you can always see new sides. Plus some wonderful food of course. Our Shady Ladies Paris tour includes both of those, with a "Shady Ladies" tour of the Orsay Museum highlighting the racy sides of the collection (on the model of our well-known tour of the Metropolitan) and some truly excellent meals; also a tasting at the patisserie that is most famous for macarons. But we also include a bunch of sights in our Paris tour that you probably haven't seen—lesser-known sights that even Parisians think it would be cool to see.

18 Jan The bed of one of the great courtesans of 19th century Paris, Valtesse de la Bigne.

Posted at 05:30h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Great bed, eh? Maybe we should call it something like a temple of love. This is the bed of one of the great courtesans of 19th century Paris, Valtesse de la Bigne. Aside from her rich patrons, de la Bigne was the lover of several...

18 Jan Ernest-Ange Duez’s “Splendeur,” displayed at the Salon of 1874

Posted at 05:13h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Here is another thing we will see on our Shady Ladies tour of Paris--one of our favorite images of a courtesan: Ernest-Ange Duez's "Splendeur," displayed at the Salon of 1874. It was originally part of a diptych, with "Misère" on the other side, showing the...

11 Dec Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara

Posted at 16:19h in art history, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Say the name "Lucrezia Borgia," and what do you think of? Incest and poison are probably the first things that come to mind. Lucrezia was born (in 1480), supposedly an illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI (Rodrigo de Borgia). And from that point on, she went from one nefarious deed to another, bearing an illegitimate son, engaging in incest with her father and/or her famous brother Cesare, poisoning people left and right—she supposedly had a hollow ring with poison-tipped pins she could use to prick her victims. In short, she was the original "nasty woman."

25 Oct Courtesans And Royal Mistresses: Madame Du Barry

Posted at 03:16h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

This is Mme. Du Barry--one of the most famous courtesans and royal mistresses of all time! Du Barry was the last of Louis XV's official mistresses. Louis (it seems) adored her because she was so beautiful that she revived his flagging sex life. She ended her life on the guillotine, but here she is long before, dressed in the 18th century's version of 'casual Friday': a simple gingham dress and straw hat--a style favored by Marie Antoinette, who famously loathed Mme. Du Barry and the racy side of French court life that she represented.

12 Sep How our art history tours about courtesans started

Posted at 23:58h in art history, courtesans, Metropolitan Museum, Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

People often ask me how I came up with the idea of giving art history tours about courtesans. There is a short version of that story and a long one. The short one would start with the fact that I have given art history tours of the Metropolitan Museum for a long time. I gave them for students when I was teaching at Columbia and NYU. Last spring I started giving a gay history tour of the Met, which we call "Gay Secrets of the Metropolitan." And as I gave it, I started noticing how many paintings of courtesans there are in the museum.

25 Aug Meet Lady Emma Hamilton A Woman Of Great Beauty

Posted at 12:00h in Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Emma Hamilton The way from social obscurity to social stardom has traditionally been even narrower than the strait gate and narrow way to salvation. However, iconic looks, talent, intelligence, and a heaping helping of golden luck have been known to buy one’s way out and up. Emma Hamilton was born in 1765, among the working poor. Ordinarily, the nearest such a girl would have come to the aristocracy would have been cleaning up after them. She was working as a servant in London at twelve; she moved on to a brothel, then an establishment known as the Temple of Health and Hymen. Her first protector was one Sir Harry Featherstonebaugh. Supposedly she helped entertain his companions by dancing naked on his table. She attracted the notice of the Hon. Charles Greville, nephew of Sir William Hamilton. Charmed, Greville commissioned George Romney to paint portraits of her and make the public aware of the iconic face. Romney became quite obsessed with her and produced numerous portraits that convey both the heat of his interest and his subject’s charisma. At nineteen she was also painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds in a characteristic pose: a mischievous, meditative look over her shoulder, right hand delicately fingering her cheek.

12 Aug Princess Louise of the UK

Posted at 05:32h in Shady Ladies, Women's History by Professor Andrew Lear

Victorian is almost a substitute term for joylessly prudish to many people. They are wrong; Queen Victoria relished sex with her protective, affectionate husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coberg-Gotha. The marital romance portrayed in The Young Victoria by Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend is true to history. However, Queen Victoria disliked pregnancy, babies, and some children, including several of her own, with passion. Her criticism of the less-favored could be stinging in its candor as well as inaccurate. Her sixth child, Princess Louise, born in 1848, was among her less-favored offspring. Through much of Princess Louise’s childhood, the queen sincerely believed that her daughter was “backward.” Having inherited Prince Albert’s cheekbones and graceful bearing, though, Louise was the prettiest of the daughters. Certainly she was the most talented and daring, the one who would lead the life she desired.