Courtesan
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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.
Veronica Franco, famous Venetian poet and courtesan. Portrait by Tintoretto.
Courtesans with their servants by Lancelot Volders
Olympe Pélissier (Vernet, 1830) was described by Balzac as "the most beautiful courtesan in Paris". In 1846, she married Rossini.
Reveller courtesan BM E44
Theodora was the wife of emperor Justinian I and Eastern Roman empress from 527 until her death. Theodora was one of Justinian's chief political advisers. She is recognized as a saint in the Eastern O
Courtesan
…there is still much historical debate over whether certain women in history were courtesans. For example, the title was applied to the Byzantine empress Theodora, who had started life as an erotic actress, but later became the wife of the Emperor Justinian and, after her death, an Orthodox saint. Amrapali (5th…
Depiction from a contemporary portrait mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Empress Theodora and attendants (mosaic from Basilica of San Vitale, 6th century)
Depiction of Justinian from a contemporary portrait mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Théodora (1887), by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes