The Oldest Profession in Florence during the Renaissance
To modern eyes one weirdly dressed Renaissance lady may look much like another – but to a young man about town looking for some action he would know this lady was open for business due to – of all things – her gloves!
From their homes in the Via delle Belle Donne in Florence, shown above, it was forbidden , even for the well-off courtesans to try to pass themselves off as a finely dressed lady of quality by coming into the street without displaying signs of their profession – and in Florence you had at least two signs that you had to put on display to make it quite clear that your availabilities came at a price – gloves and a bell on your hat – and in some years also high heeled shoes!
Florence wasn’t particularly harsh on prostitutes – every City had rules about badges of profession – or religion -so Jews and Muslims had to wear what was called the “badge of Infamy” – for Jews it was a Yellow Felt Circle -which was particularly harsh as in Renaissance paintings Yellow was usually used as a note of warning – in particular worn by Judas .
Throughout Europe prostitutes were expected to wear a red cord falling from their shoulder – this symbol being a reference to Rahab the Harlot who , according to the Book of Joshua , let down a red cord from her window when she was available for selection!
Other Cities had different codes , according to the excellent research of Frances Stonor Saunders in Toulouse they had to wear a white knot, Vienna a Yellow Scarf, Bergamo a yellow cloak , Berne and Zurich a red cap ; in Dijon and Avignon a white badge four fingers wide on the arm, in Milan a Black Cloak, in Marseilles a striped tunic, in Bristol a striped hood.
Now it strikes me that there are dangers in all this – admittedly people didn’t zip from one city to another as we do now, but imagine you are a noblewoman coming from Bergamo and therefore avoiding a risky yellow cloak and wearing a much more conservative black one for your entry into Milan – and then finding all your would be friends avoiding you like the plague.
The two ladies pictured above are images I found under a search for Renaissance Prostitutes – the only sign is that they are carrying gloves – the second one in particular doesn’t make any other suggestion as to her line of work?
Equally Florence is very cold in winter and anyone would be crazy to venture out without gloves,- so a nice sideline to the leather jacket and bag industry is gloves – light, pretty , easy to carry home as gifts,perfect – How the locals must laugh at branding us all!
