History of Sex, Erotica, and Pornography XI. - The Italian Renaissance and the Age of the Courtesans

In the 15th century Europe, erotic thoughts and deeds were believed to hinder one's redemption. The church and the morals agreed that sex was needed, but only to create offspring and populate cities, not for fun! Sex had its rules, such as that the "natural" position is when the man is over. If the couple faced each other lying side by side, that was an acceptable category. One of the most disgusting was when the woman was over. Only Sodom was judged better than this. It is, therefore, worth examining the social and cultural background that gave birth to the above rules.

For most Italians, the problem was homosexuality. As in ancient Athens, adult men played the active role, young boys the passive. A crucial moment in the transition was moving from one situation to another, and then when men were "adults," there was heterosexuality within marriage. However, if two adult men continued to have sex with each other, it suggested that this could not only be a temporary state. Still, it could also be permanent and dangerous to society. Hence the admiration of the young body, but the adult male has already lost its appeal.

To overcome male homosexuality, the larger cities - Florence, Venice, and Milan - encouraged female prostitution. But since the beginning of the 13th century, brothels have operated alongside markets to promote attraction and marriage to women. It was almost a civic duty to express a desire for a female body, the ultimate goal of which was procreation and thus the population of cities.

Venice in the 15. century

pinterest.com

A 15-16. century a new word appeared in Europe: the courtesan. The Italian names il cortegiano and the French le courtisan referred to people who were courtiers. The attractive women who appeared in their surroundings and were supported by them began to be referred to as courtesans. In the Renaissance, the courtesanwas sharply separated from ordinary prostitutes. The courtesans were wealthy and educated, able to talk about Petrarca's sonnets with equal expertise, singing beautifully, playing on the lyre, dancing, and being very versed in the art of love as well. That's why they cost a lot. They lived respectable lives and spent their days among the upper strata of society, aristocrats, wealthy merchants, and chief officials. They were clean, elegant, good lounges, or just neat businesswomen. They could play an instrument and sing, and they could entertain men.

The life of Veronica Franco (1546-1591) of Venice, who was also the lover of two Renaissance painters, Jacobo Tintoretto and Paolo Veronese, is well known - as it was also made into a film. She spoke in seven languages, played the flute, and wrote poems. She was a cortigiana onesta, meaning an educated and sophisticated prostitute. Even she also had an affair with  Henrik III., King of France (1574-1589).

Veroniva Franco

pinterest.com

Many courtesans became known by the name of their hometown, while others preferred names referring to power. It was widely believed that an educated courtesan was far more dangerous to young men than a cheap and poor prostitute because he sold his favors so dearly that he could ruin more young nobles.

Most cities have tried to persuade prostitutes to wear garments that differentiate them from decent women. There were cities where they had to wear a red cap with small bells, elsewhere they had to wear a black cloak, and in Rome, they were forced to veil their faces. And they didn't need better marketing. Their appearance immediately betrayed their occupation, and the potential knew they didn't have to run unnecessary laps.

Tintoretto

wikipedia.org

The first Renaissance erotic literary work appeared at about the same time as Giorgone painted his Venus. 

the sleeping Venus

wikimedia.org

At the beginning of the 16th century, Giuliano Romano made a series on various sexual postures: he depicted the most forbidden, i.e., women are at the top of the pictures and men penetrate their women from behind. Interestingly, however, it was not the drawings that were the problem, but the fact that they were widely distributed. They were also confiscated and destroyed by papal order.

Duality related to sexuality was characteristic in several areas. For example, while patrician families kept the innocence of their girls, the boys may have been taken to the local brothel by the heads of families themselves to learn from experts what to do on their wedding night. Another interesting fact is that the secular authorities made every effort to regulate prostitution, year after year, in more and more regulations. At the same time, the city authorities were motivated to keep the brothels alive and profitable, because the owners of the brothels were required to pay one-eighth of their income as tax.

Thanks to this dual attitude, then, prostitution flourished in Renaissance Italy. This practically meant that there was at least one brothel in every city and more in the larger cities. It is said that in 1468 there were more than 200 such institutions in Venice, and a tenth of the inhabitants of the town were prostitutes!

For brothels, a few streets were set aside in most cities. But in Rome, for example, they had a whole quarter of the city at their disposal. Whoever gave himself up a bit worked in the brothel. The brothels were two-story houses with an inn at the bottom where you could eat, drink, dance, meet ladies. The store was tied downstairs. The action took place upstairs, where it was separated by planks and curtains in rooms. Most of the ladies working in Italian brothels were blonde Germanic and Slavic girls who were found particularly attractive by local men.