ABSTRACT
The courtesan, witty, widely instructed, accomplished, elegant, fascinated scholars, worldly potentates and princes of the Church alike, commanded their homage, and emptied their purses. The courtesan became the inspiring model of the painter, the inspiring muse of the poet; the myriad versifiers of Italy hymned courtesans and Court-ladies with equal fervour. B. Castiglione advised ladies to emulate the courtesan in their knowledge of belles-lettres, quality of their epistolary correspondence, music, painting, dancing, manners and modesty. Courtesans sat with “honest” ladies at banquets, and were given more credence in the courts of law than other folk. The courtesan applied herself to heavenly tasks hardly less eagerly than to mundane activities. She was almost as earnestly concerned in advancing her own individual fortunes in the celestial sphere as in pushing them in this world. The courtesans had their favourite preachers and crowded close up to the pulpit.
