Venetian courtesans
Italy seems to have had a growing reputation for sexual opportunities. Italian women were said to be promiscuous and the Venetian courtesans were (in)famous in this respect. Already in the seventeenth century Venice became less dependent on trade and all the more on tourism as its main source of income. The attractions of gambling, prostitution and other such things were abundant there, moreso even than in the rest of Italy, if the travel journals are to be believed. Apparently, the Venetian government depended a lot on the tax revenue that these businesses yielded.
As the grand tour gained in popularity, so did the genre of travel writing. Many English travelers wrote letters and journals describing everything they saw, and not only the things they 'should' be doing: the sex industry was often included (positively or negatively) in their writings.
Common prostitutes, paid for by the hour, were everywhere in the city. The brothels were assigned specific areas, but if we are to believe the comments of the seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, love was for sale on every street corner. However, English travel writing tells us of another type of prostitution: the courtesan.
Courtesans were a different breed of women. They were accomplished in many different arts, they were cultured and skilled in the bedroom. A good comparison would be with the Japanese Geisha. One of the earliest mentions of the Venetian courtesans can be found in the travel journal written by seventeenth century writer Thomas Coryate, 'Coryate's Crudities'. He describes their profession as follows:
“The woman that professeth this trade is called in the Italian tongue Cortezana, which word is derived from the Italian word cortesia that signifies courtesie. Because these kinde of women are said to receive courtesies of their favourities. […] As for the number of these Venetian Cortezans it is very great. For it is thought there are of them in the whole City and other adiacent places […] at the least twenty thousand, whereof many are esteemed so loose that they are said to open their quivers to every arrow.”
Despite his apparent distaste for the women (“A most ungodly thing without doubt”), Coryate dedicated no less than ten full pages on his description of the courtesans. He even visited one in her palace, as he felt 'obliged' to write about them. For, he said, “all the writers that I could ever see, which have described the city, have altogether excluded them out of their writings.”
These Venetian courtesans generally only received customers of their own choosing. They were expensive and they were quite rich themselves. Their skill in the bedroom and the mystery that surrounded them gained them a sort of infamy all over Europe and descriptions and mention of them can be found in a lot of different travel journals and collections of letters.
Image: Coryate meets Margarita Emiliana from Coryate's Crudities (facsimile scan)
Sources:
Black, Jeremy Martin. 'Italy and the grand tour', Yale University Press/Worldprint, China 2003
Coryate, Thomas / Schutte,William M (editor) 'Coryat's Crudities, 1611' Scolar Press, London 1611/1978 (reprint of the first edition)
Littlewood, Ian. ‘Sultry Climates: Travel and sex since the Grand Tour’, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, London 2001
As the grand tour gained in popularity, so did the genre of travel writing. Many English travelers wrote letters and journals describing everything they saw, and not only the things they 'should' be doing: the sex industry was often included (positively or negatively) in their writings.
Common prostitutes, paid for by the hour, were everywhere in the city. The brothels were assigned specific areas, but if we are to believe the comments of the seventeenth and eighteenth century writers, love was for sale on every street corner. However, English travel writing tells us of another type of prostitution: the courtesan.
Courtesans were a different breed of women. They were accomplished in many different arts, they were cultured and skilled in the bedroom. A good comparison would be with the Japanese Geisha. One of the earliest mentions of the Venetian courtesans can be found in the travel journal written by seventeenth century writer Thomas Coryate, 'Coryate's Crudities'. He describes their profession as follows:
“The woman that professeth this trade is called in the Italian tongue Cortezana, which word is derived from the Italian word cortesia that signifies courtesie. Because these kinde of women are said to receive courtesies of their favourities. […] As for the number of these Venetian Cortezans it is very great. For it is thought there are of them in the whole City and other adiacent places […] at the least twenty thousand, whereof many are esteemed so loose that they are said to open their quivers to every arrow.”
Despite his apparent distaste for the women (“A most ungodly thing without doubt”), Coryate dedicated no less than ten full pages on his description of the courtesans. He even visited one in her palace, as he felt 'obliged' to write about them. For, he said, “all the writers that I could ever see, which have described the city, have altogether excluded them out of their writings.”
These Venetian courtesans generally only received customers of their own choosing. They were expensive and they were quite rich themselves. Their skill in the bedroom and the mystery that surrounded them gained them a sort of infamy all over Europe and descriptions and mention of them can be found in a lot of different travel journals and collections of letters.
Image: Coryate meets Margarita Emiliana from Coryate's Crudities (facsimile scan)
Sources:
Black, Jeremy Martin. 'Italy and the grand tour', Yale University Press/Worldprint, China 2003
Coryate, Thomas / Schutte,William M (editor) 'Coryat's Crudities, 1611' Scolar Press, London 1611/1978 (reprint of the first edition)
Littlewood, Ian. ‘Sultry Climates: Travel and sex since the Grand Tour’, John Murray (Publishers) Ltd, London 2001