Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings.   This week’s Femme Fatale Friday post is about the iconic poet and Courtesan Veronica Franco!   She was the subject of the 1998 film Dangerous Beauty, which was based on the biography The Honest Courtesan by Margaret F. Rosenthal.   

Veronica Franco was born in Venice, Italy, on March 25, 1546, and died in 1591.   She was born in this time and place where a woman’s life goals if she wanted a good life were to enter a convent, marry well (which required a good dowry), or become a Courtesan, which is essentially a high-class Prostitute.   Veronica famously became a Courtesan but was known in Renaissance Venitian Society as a cortigiana onesta, which means ‘Honest Courtesan,’ as the title of the biography about her denotes.   To be titled Honest Courtesan, meant that you were not only a sex worker to the nobility, but also that you were intellectual and cultured.   Essentially, Veronica Franco was a Courtesan who could not only provide men with a good time sexually but also provide them with intelligent conversation and mental stimulation!   This is also what led her to become a poet, as she was well-read and taught a humanist education alongside her brother, which was a rare feat in her era.   She was able to use her education and her ability to mingle in social circles of artists and intellectuals to contribute to the artistic and literary outlets of the time!   

Interestingly, Veronica had been married off young by her mother to an older wealthy gentleman, but this marriage did not last, and she ended up financially supporting her children and their tutors for most of her life.   She had given birth to a total of six children, the first when she was about eighteen years old, with three of her children dying in infancy, which was sadly common at that time.   During her time as a Courtesan and Poet, which supported her family, her mother was often the one to find her clients.   So, yes, the woman who arranged a marriage that did not work out was also the one who provided clients for her daughter during her years as a Courtesan.   That fact alone shows just how well-respected Courtesans could be, especially when they were also intellectuals like Veronica Franco was!

Veronica Franco was, in fact, very well-respected in her society.   However, given she was not a traditional wife, she was not given all of the inherent protections afforded to women who simply managed their husband’s affairs.   This meant she had to get creative when it came to protecting herself, and that is why she often sought Patrons amongst the artists and intellectuals of the era.   Her studies and literary works showed her ability to converse with and entertain learned men on levels that other Courtesans may not have had, due to Veronica Franco’s great education growing up!   In many ways, this is proof positive that our education can never be taken away, whether we have learned formally or taught ourselves through diligent self-study!

Veronica Franco may not have been what many thought of as ‘respectable,’ but her mind, her art in the form of poetry, and the respect afforded her by artistic circles of the time proved she was much more than others may have thought at first glance.   Her working life was quite blessed for a long time, with many wealthy benefactors, but plague struck Venice in 1575, forcing her to leave, only returning to find that her home had been looted and much of her wealth was gone.   Then in 1577, she had to defend herself against the charges of witchcraft before the Inquisition, which was a sadly common accusation leveled against Courtesans at the time.   Veronica Franco was acquitted of all charges, with evidence that her connections to Venitian Nobility may have aided her in gaining her freedom.   Although not much is known about her later life, it seems although she was free, she had lost most of her wealth, and after the death of her last benefactor, she likely died in relative poverty!

So, yes, she had a sad end to a very colorful and interesting life.   I hope you have enjoyed this short look at the life of Veronica Franco.   What do you find to be the most interesting thing about her?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a painting by Jacopo Tintoretto thought to be Veronica Franco.   I found the artwork on https://allthatsinteresting.com/veronica-franco.

LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries

Further Reading/Watching

• The Honest Courtesan by Margaret F. Rosenthal
• https://cap-press.com/sites/pj/articles/dangerousbeauty.htm?srsltid=AfmBOoqGcsWGLtGgpRnFDhi4KEB9YcEmU7FpY69XKYfZE5CXixxz2q99
• https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/efts/IWW/BIOS/A0017.html
• https://www.visitvenezia.eu/en/venetianity/tales-of-venice/veronica-franco-a-symbol-of-empowerment-in-the-venetian-renaissance
• Dangerous Beauty (1998)