page_title: Courtesan
section_title: 18th and 19th centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Courtesan / Famous courtesans in history / 18th and 19th centuries
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of of the courtesan Mary Nesbitt
context_page_description: A courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism meaning a sugar baby, escort, concubine, mistress or a prostitute, for whom the art of dignified etiquette is the means of attracting wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term originally meant a courtier, a person who attends the court of a monarch or other powerful person.
  In feudal society, the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together. Prior to the Renaissance, courtesans served to convey information to visiting dignitaries, when servants could not be trusted. In Renaissance Europe, courtiers played an extremely important role in upper-class society. As it was customary during this time for royal couples to lead separate lives—commonly marrying simply to preserve bloodlines and to secure political alliances—men and women would often seek gratification and companionship from people living at court. In fact, the verb 'to court' originally meant "to be or reside at court", and later came to mean "to behave as a courtier" and then 'courtship', or "to pay amorous attention to somebody".
context_section_description: Claudine Alexandrine Guérin de Tencin (1681–1749), French courtesan and later a famous salonniére
  Josefa Ordóñez (1728 – d. after 1792), Mexican courtesan-actress
  Kitty Fisher (died 1767), British courtesan and model
  Marie-Louise O'Murphy (1737–1814), French courtesan, lover but not official royal mistress of Louis XV of France
  Mary Nesbitt (1742-1825), British courtesan and spy
  Sophia Baddeley (1745–1786), British courtesan
  Støvlet-Cathrine (1745–1805), Danish courtesan, lover but not official royal mistress of King Christian VII of Denmark
  Rosalie Duthé (1748–1830), French courtesan, has been called "the first officially recorded dumb blonde".
  Grace Elliott (1754?–1823), British courtesan
  Charlotte Slottsberg (1760–1800), Swedish courtesan-ballerina, lover but not official royal mistress of Charles XIII of Sweden
  Dorothy Jordan (1761–1816), British courtesan-actress
  Mah Laqa Bai (7 April 1768 – August 1824), Indian tawaif-courtesan
  Harriette Wilson (1786–1846), British courtesan
  La Païva (1819–1884), French demimonde-courtesan ('Grande Horisontale') of the Second Empire
  Lola Montez (1821–1861), internationally famous courtesan, mistress to the king of Bavaria
  Marie Duplessis (1824–1847), French courtesan, one of the best known from the era of Louis Philippe
  Cora Pearl (1836–1886), demimonde-courtesan ('Grande Horisontale') of the Second Empire
  Eliza Lynch (1835–1886), British courtesan, de facto wife of Francisco Solano López, president of Paraguay
  Catherine Walters (1839–1920), British courtesan
  Blanche d'Antigny (1840–1874), French courtesan; Émile Zola used her as the principal model for his novel Nana
  Binodini Dasi (1862–1941), Indian courtesan-actress
  La Belle Otero (1868–1965), Spanish courtesan
  Liane de Pougy (1869–1950), French courtesan and Folies Bergère-dancer
  Sai Jinhua (1872–1936), Chinese courtesan
  Mata Hari (1876–1917), courtesan and spy
  In addition to the list above, the term "courtesan" has often been used in a political context in an attempt to damage the reputation of a powerful woman, or disparage her importance. Because of this, there is still much historical debate over whether certain women in history can be referred to as 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. The term has also been applied to influential women including Anne Boleyn, Umrao Jaan, Madaline Bishop, Diane de Poitiers, Mathilde Kschessinska, Pamela Harriman, Eva Perón and Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel. The attempt to define such women as courtesans is often intended to draw attention to certain perceived qualities, ambitions or conduct which are held to be courtesan-like.
caption: Mary Nesbitt
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