Veronica Franco (whose life is featured in the motion picture Dangerous
Beauty) was a sixteenth-century Venetian beauty, poet, and
protofeminist. This collection captures the frank eroticism and
impressive eloquence that set her apart from the chaste, silent woman
prescribed by Renaissance gender ideology.
As an "honored courtesan", Franco made her living by arranging to have
sexual relations, for a high fee, with the elite of Venice and the many
travelers--merchants, ambassadors, even kings--who passed through the
city. Courtesans needed to be beautiful, sophisticated in their dress
and manners, and elegant, cultivated conversationalists. Exempt from
many of the social and educational restrictions placed on women of the
Venetian patrician class, Franco used her position to recast "virtue" as
"intellectual integrity," offering wit and refinement in return for
patronage and a place in public life.
Franco became a writer by allying herself with distinguished men at the
center of her city's culture, particularly in the informal meetings of a
literary salon at the home of Domenico Venier, the oldest member of a
noble family and a former Venetian senator. Through Venier's protection
and her own determination, Franco published work in which she defended
her fellow courtesans, speaking out against their mistreatment by men
and criticizing the subordination of women in general. Venier also
provided literary counsel when she responded to insulting attacks
written by the male Venetian poet Maffio Venier.
Franco's insight into the power conflicts between men and women and her
awareness of the threat she posed to her male contemporaries make her
life and work pertinent today.
