The following is a list of nobtable Italian Renaissance courtesans.
Renaissance courtesans
In Italian Renaissance society existed the category of a cortigiana onesta (Honest
Courtesan), who were intellectual sex workers who derived their position in society from refinement and cultural prowess. They served in contrast to other sex workers such as cortigiana di lume or meretrice ('harlots'), who were lower-class
prostitutes.[1]
In the middle of 16th century was printed "Catalogo de tutte le principal et più honorate cortigiane di Venetia" (Catalog of all the Principal and most Honored Courtesans of Venice).
Pietro Aretino: "La Cortigiana" (
it), 1525; Ragionamento della Nanna e della Antonia fatto a Roma sotto una ficaia (1534); Dialogo nel quale la Nanna insegna alla Pippa sua figliola (1536)
Balzac's figure of Imperia has been portrayed by the German painter
Lovis Corinth in 1925, and inspired the 1993 larger-than-life
Imperia statue in the harbour of
Konstanz.
Cortigiane di Venezia: dal Trecento a l Settecento, Le, Cataloga della Mostra: Venezia, Casinò municipale, C a’ Vendramin Calergi, 2 febbraio-16 aprile 1990, Berenice, Milano 1990.
King, Margaret L., Simpson, Catherine L., Women of the Renaissance, University of Chicago Press 1991.
Lawner, Lynne. Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance. 1987
Larivaille, Paul. La vie quotidienne des courtisanes en Italie au temps de la Renaissance: Rome et Venise, XVe et XVIe siècles, 1975 / La vita quotidiana delle cortigiane nell'Italia del Rinascimento, 2017
Robin, Diana Maury, Larsen, Anne R. and Levin, Carole. Encyclopedia of women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England — ABC-CLIO, Inc, 2007. — pp. 160–161.
Robin, Diana Maury, Courtesans Celebrity and Print Culture in Renaissance Venice
Rogers, Mary; Tinagli, Paola. Women in Italy, 1350–1650.
Rosenthal, Margaret F. The Honest Courtesan: Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth-Century Venice. 2012
Sison, Arielle. Veronica Franco and the 'Cortigiane Oneste': Attaining Power through Prostitution in Sixteenth-Century Venice. Stanford.
Stortoni, Laura A. Women Poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly Ladies and Courtesans. — New York: Italica Press, 1997. — pp. 23–5. —
ISBN0934977437.
Bassani, Riccardo, La donna del Caravaggio. Vita e peripezie di Maddalena Antognetti, Roma, Donzelli 2021.
Bellini, Fiora, La modella e il “pittor celebre”: una storia in sette quadri, in Bassani, R, La donna del Caravaggio. Vita e peripezie di Maddalena Antognetti, Roma Donzelli 2021, pp. 199-235
The following is a list of nobtable Italian Renaissance courtesans.
Renaissance courtesans
In Italian Renaissance society existed the category of a cortigiana onesta (Honest
Courtesan), who were intellectual sex workers who derived their position in society from refinement and cultural prowess. They served in contrast to other sex workers such as cortigiana di lume or meretrice ('harlots'), who were lower-class
prostitutes.[1]
In the middle of 16th century was printed "Catalogo de tutte le principal et più honorate cortigiane di Venetia" (Catalog of all the Principal and most Honored Courtesans of Venice).
Pietro Aretino: "La Cortigiana" (
it), 1525; Ragionamento della Nanna e della Antonia fatto a Roma sotto una ficaia (1534); Dialogo nel quale la Nanna insegna alla Pippa sua figliola (1536)
Balzac's figure of Imperia has been portrayed by the German painter
Lovis Corinth in 1925, and inspired the 1993 larger-than-life
Imperia statue in the harbour of
Konstanz.
Cortigiane di Venezia: dal Trecento a l Settecento, Le, Cataloga della Mostra: Venezia, Casinò municipale, C a’ Vendramin Calergi, 2 febbraio-16 aprile 1990, Berenice, Milano 1990.
King, Margaret L., Simpson, Catherine L., Women of the Renaissance, University of Chicago Press 1991.
Lawner, Lynne. Lives of the Courtesans: Portraits of the Renaissance. 1987
Larivaille, Paul. La vie quotidienne des courtisanes en Italie au temps de la Renaissance: Rome et Venise, XVe et XVIe siècles, 1975 / La vita quotidiana delle cortigiane nell'Italia del Rinascimento, 2017
Robin, Diana Maury, Larsen, Anne R. and Levin, Carole. Encyclopedia of women in the Renaissance: Italy, France, and England — ABC-CLIO, Inc, 2007. — pp. 160–161.
Robin, Diana Maury, Courtesans Celebrity and Print Culture in Renaissance Venice
Rogers, Mary; Tinagli, Paola. Women in Italy, 1350–1650.
Rosenthal, Margaret F. The Honest Courtesan: Veronica Franco, Citizen and Writer in Sixteenth-Century Venice. 2012
Sison, Arielle. Veronica Franco and the 'Cortigiane Oneste': Attaining Power through Prostitution in Sixteenth-Century Venice. Stanford.
Stortoni, Laura A. Women Poets of the Italian Renaissance: Courtly Ladies and Courtesans. — New York: Italica Press, 1997. — pp. 23–5. —
ISBN0934977437.
Bassani, Riccardo, La donna del Caravaggio. Vita e peripezie di Maddalena Antognetti, Roma, Donzelli 2021.
Bellini, Fiora, La modella e il “pittor celebre”: una storia in sette quadri, in Bassani, R, La donna del Caravaggio. Vita e peripezie di Maddalena Antognetti, Roma Donzelli 2021, pp. 199-235