Une cocotte by Bertall from The comedy of our time: studies in pencil and pen, Plon, Paris, vol. 2, 1875.

Cocottes (or coquettes) were high class prostitutes (courtesans) in France during the Second Empire and the Belle Époque.[1] They were also known as demi-mondes and grandes horizontales.[2] Cocotte was originally a term of endearment for small children, but was used as a term for elegant prostitutes from the 1860s.[3] The term was also used in Wilhelmine and Weimar Germany from the turn of the 20th century (Kokotte).[4]

Overview

For some women, becoming a cocotte was also a way to achieve financial comfort before settling down in marriage. Some managed their fortune, others died in misery, others finally, like Sarah Bernhardt, who in the beginning was a cocotte, became adulated actresses.[5]

For a rich man of the period, keeping a cocotte was seen as a symbol of his status and virility. Cocottes were elegant, fashionable and extravagant, the papers reported on their clothing, parties and affairs.[6]

Several authors of the 19th century wrote about cocottes,[7] for example Émile Zola with Nana. This novel describes the life and tragic fate of a street-walker who rises to become a cocotte, and whose ways lead to ruin the powerful men she meets.[8]

Famous cocottes include Cora Pearl (1835-1886) (her patrons included Prince Napoleon and the Duke of Morny); Laure Hayman (1851-1932) (Paul Bourget, King of Greece, Prince Karageorgevich and Prince Karl of Fürstenberg).[9] Several mansions of Paris were built for "cocottes", such as that of la Païva on the Champs-Élysées.[10]

References

  1. Rudorff, Raymond. "Courtesans and Prostitutes". www.indiana.edu. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  2. Rounding 2004, p. 352.
  3. Smith 2014, p. 11.
  4. Smith 2014, pp. 2, 13.
  5. Laing, Olivia (23 October 2010). "Sarah: The Life of Sarah Bernhardt by Robert Gottlieb | book review". The Observer. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  6. "Prostitution in Paris (1850-1910) Prequel of the billet about Memoirs of a cocodette written by herself by Ernest Feydeau". Book Around The Corner. 17 January 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  7. Chu & Dixon 2008, p. 203.
  8. Willsher, Kim (19 September 2015). "Cocottes, courtesans and sex in the city: Paris celebrates art of the demi-monde". The Observer. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  9. Rose 2016, p. 322.
  10. "Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse Console for the Grand Salon in the Hôtel de Païva". www.musee-orsay.fr. Musée d'Orsay. Archived from the original on 29 October 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2019.

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.