A courtesan is a prostitute with a courtly, wealthy, or upper-class clientele. Historically, the term referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
Alexandre Dumas fils was a French author and playwright, best known for the romantic novel La Dame aux Camélias, published in 1848, which was adapted into Giuseppe Verdi's 1853 opera La traviata, as well as numerous stage and film productions.
Alexandre Dumas, also known as Alexandre Dumas père, was a French novelist and playwright.
Félix François Faure was the president of France from 1895 until his death in 1899. A native of Paris, he worked as a tanner in his younger years. Faure became a member of the Chamber of Deputies for Seine-Inférieure in 1881. He rose to prominence in national politics up until unexpectedly assuming the presidency, during which time France's relations with Russia improved.
Marguerite Jeanne "Meg" Japy Steinheil, Baroness Abinger was a French woman known for her many love affairs with important men. She was present at the death of President Félix Faure, who was rumoured to have died after having a seizure while allegedly having sex with her. She was later tried for the murders of her husband and mother, but was acquitted.
The hooker with a heart of gold is a stock character involving a courtesan or prostitute who possesses virtues such as integrity, generosity and kindness.
Marie Duplessis was a French courtesan and mistress to a number of prominent and wealthy men. She was the inspiration for Marguerite Gautier, the main character of the 1848 novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the younger, one of Duplessis' lovers. Much of what is known about her has been derived from the literary persona and contemporary legends.
The Lady of the Camellias, sometimes called Camille in English, is a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. First published in 1848 and subsequently adapted by Dumas for the stage, the play premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France, on February 2, 1852. It was an instant success. Shortly thereafter, Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi set about putting the story to music in the 1853 opera La traviata, with female protagonist Marguerite Gautier renamed Violetta Valéry.
Liane de Pougy, TOSD, was a Folies Bergère vedette and dancer renowned as one of Paris's most beautiful and notorious courtesans. Later in life, she also became a Dominican tertiary.
Camille is a 1984 television film based on the 1848 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. It was adapted by Blanche Hanalis and directed by Desmond Davis. It stars Greta Scacchi, Colin Firth, John Gielgud, Billie Whitelaw, Patrick Ryecart, Denholm Elliott and Ben Kingsley.
Esther Lachmann was the most famous of the 19th-century French courtesans. A notable investor and architecture patron, and a collector of jewels, she had a personality so hard-bitten that she was described as the "one great courtesan who appears to have had no redeeming feature". Count Horace de Viel-Castel, a society chronicler, called her "the queen of kept women, the sovereign of her race".
The Lady of the Camellias is a 1981 French-Italian drama film directed by Mauro Bolognini and starring Isabelle Huppert. It tells the actual story of Alphonsine Plessis, who became a famous courtesan in Paris and the inspiration for the novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, which has in turn become the source for many plays, operas, ballets, and films.
Émilie-Louise Delabigne, known as countess Valtesse de La Bigne was a French courtesan and demi-mondaine. Although born to a working-class family in Paris, she rose through the social ranks and was a supporter of painters, while creating a space for women to participate in the art world through her collecting and Salon.
Élisabeth-Céleste Vénard, countess of Chabrillan, better known by her stage name Céleste Mogador and often referred to simply as Mogador, was a French dancer and writer.
Prostitution in Impressionist painting was a common subject in the art of the period. Prostitution was a very widespread phenomenon in nineteenth-century Paris and although an accepted practice among the nineteenth century bourgeoisie, it was nevertheless a topic that remained largely taboo in polite society. As a result, Impressionist works depicting the prostitute often became the subject of scandal, and particularly venomous criticism. Some works showed her with considerable sympathy, while others attempted to impart an agency to her; likewise some work showed high-class courtesans, and others prostitutes awaiting clients on the streets. In addition to the sexual revulsion/attraction the figure of the prostitute stirred, she functioned as a sign of modernity, a clear sign of the entanglement of sex, class, power and money.
Constance Adolphine Quéniaux was a dancer and courtesan at the Paris Opera Ballet. She is the presumed model for Gustave Courbet's painting L'Origine du monde, in which a woman is seen explicitly displaying her vulva.
A Lorette is a type of 19th-century French prostitute. They stood between the kept women (courtesans) and the grisettes. A grisette had other employment and worked part-time as a prostitute whereas a Lorette supported herself exclusively from prostitution. The lorette shared her favours among several lovers; the Lorette's "Arthurs", as they called them, were not financially able or too fickle to have exclusivity.
Cocottes were high class prostitutes (courtesans) in France during the Second Empire and the Belle Époque. They were also known as demimondaines and grandes horizontales. Cocotte was originally a term of endearment for small children, but was used as a term for elegant prostitutes from the 1860s. The term was also used in Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany from the turn of the 20th century (Kokotte).
Paris Police 1900 is a French crime drama television series created by Fabien Nury that was first broadcast on 8 February 2021 on Canal+ in France and was shown on BBC Four in October 2021. A follow-up series of six episodes, featuring the same characters and called Paris Police 1905, was released in 2022.
