Some curious information that would not allow you (once in the 15-16 centuries) to confuse an “honest” woman with a “prostitute”:
In London and Bristol at the end of the fourteenth century a prostitute could be distinguished from a decent woman by clothes made of striped, multi-colored fabric.
1. Venice in 1407 this role was played by a yellow scarf
2. Milan in 1412 – a white cloak
3. Cologne in 1423 – red and white belt
4. Bologna in 1456 – a green scarf
5. In the same Milan, but in 1498 – a black cloak
6. Seville in 1502 – green-yellow sleeves
7. There was no single rule. Sometimes a prostitute could be recognized not by color, but by some details of clothing. For example, in Castra (a city in Chile) in 1375, such a detail was a man’s hat.
What is this information for?
In the history of world painting, women of this profession are found quite often. They did not hesitate to pose for artists naked, they were not restrained by public morality and were not interested in the reputation of the master.
At some point, the artists stopped hiding the occupation of their sitters, behind ancient myths. What, of course, shocked the “pious” (read, hypocritical) public and incurred “righteous anger.
For an example, several well-known works:
Toma Couture, “Dinner after a Masquerade”, 1855
Eduard Manet, Olympia, 1863
Anri Gervoux, Rolla, 1878
Anri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Toilet, 1889
Pablo Picasso Avignon Maidens, 1907
