"Other Women's Voices" on Veronica Franco:
In 1565, when she was about 20 years old, Veronica Franco was listed in Il Catalogo di tutte le principale et piu honorate cortigiane di Venezia, which gave the names, addresses, and fees of Venice's most prominent prostitutes; her mother was listed as the person to whom the fee should be paid. From extant records, we know that by the time she was 18, Franco had been briefly married and had given birth to her first child; she would eventually have six children, three of whom died in infancy.
As one of the piu honorate cortigiane in a wealthy and cosmopolitan city, Franco lived well for much of her working life, but without the automatic protection accorded to "respectable" women. She had to make her own way. She studied and she sought patrons among the learned. By the 1570s, she was part of one of the more prestigious literary circles of the city, participating in discussions and contributing to and editing anthologies of poetry.
In 1575 Franco's own volume was published, Terze rime, containing 18 capitoli (verse epistles) by her and 7 by men writing in her praise. That same year saw the start of plague in Venice, which lasted two years, causing Franco to leave the city for a while and to lose many of her possessions. In 1577 she unsuccessfully proposed to the city council that it establish a home for poor women, of which she would become administrator. By then she was raising not only her own children but also nephews who had been orphaned by the plague.
In 1580, Franco published her Lettere familiari a diversi, "letters written in my youth," which included 50 letters, as well as two sonnets addressed to King Henri III of France, who had visited her six years before. We have little information for the period after 1580. Records suggest that she was less prosperous in her later years but not living in poverty; however, no more writing of hers appeared.
The portrait is by Tintoretto, and yes, that's a nipple. In a sixteenth or seventeenth century portrait, one nipple is considered modest, two are a bit more daring. I intend to make today Nipple Day at Scribal Terror.
This is a good day for Nipple Day. Chances are that a nipple sighting will be a rarity in the coming years.
Posted by: Diana | April 02, 2008 at 12:56 PM
one nipple is considered modest, two are a bit more daring.
What about three?
Posted by: CraigC | April 02, 2008 at 08:53 PM
I'm for the entire nekid...
Posted by: MC | April 03, 2008 at 02:47 AM