Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College

The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19th-Century France

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Aspiring Courtesans

ASPIRING COURTESANS A new social type developed in the 1840s and associated with prints by Paul Gavarni, the lorette was a fashionable young kept woman or aspiring courtesan living near the church of Notre Dame de Lorette in Paris. This new financial and entertainment district was a playground for fashionable society. The lorette was a working class woman who rejected textile work in favor of a luxurious “bourgeois” life as the mistress of a wealthy benefactor. Often associated with actresses, the lorette was a social imposter and master manipulator who passed herself off as a member of polite society. Unlike the prostitute, the lorette did not have to register with the police. Her activities and movements could not be surveilled or controled. Like the bohemian student, the lorette lived on credit and never paid her debts, changing apartments frequently to avoid her landlords and creditors.

Later in life, Gavarni moved to London where he began studying the urban poor. Upon his return to Paris, he continued his work on lorettes, but in a harsher, more cynical key. His new lorettes were called partageuses, meaning “women who share.” A 19th-century slang dictionary defined the partageuse as “a woman who has maintained the habit of taking half the fortune of men when she does not take everything from them.” In a new, more realistic series, Les Lorettes vieillies or Aspiring Courtesans Grown Old, Gavarni depicts the life of the lorette after her beauty and charms had faded and she found herself bitter, destitute, and alone. “Courtesans!” Gavarni wrote in his diary, “their youth is a butterfly, their old age a caterpillar.”


  1. Reine de joie

    Pierre Bonnard (French, 1867–1947) Reine de joie (Queen of Joy), 1892 Color lithograph Gift of Robert M. Light (OC 1950), 2007.4…

  2. Une femme charmante

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Une femme charmante vous a remarqué... (A charming woman has noticed you...), 1838 Lithograph…

  3. Les premières amours

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Les premières amours d'un homme "fait" (The first loves of a middle-aged man), 1852 Lithograph…

  4. Le Petit Trottin

    Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864–1901) Le Petit Trottin (The Dressmaker's Little Errand Girl), late 19th century Lithogra…

  5. Je vous garde un coupon

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Je vous garde un coupon pour Chantereine jeudi...(I’m saving you a ticket for Chantereine on…

  6. Madame! ... un billet de bal

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Madame! […] un billet de bal, pour un baiser de vous... (Madame! […] a dance ticket in exch…

  7. J'ai un service à vous demander

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) J'ai un service à te demander, mon bon Joseph... (I have a favor to ask of you, my dear Josep…

  8. Plus je te vois...

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Plus je te vois, plus je' l'aime (The more I see you, the more I love... him), 1852 Lithograph…

  9. Charitable Mosieu

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Charitable Mosieu, que Dieu garde vos fils de mes filles ! (Kind Sir, may God protect your sons…

  10. Les poètes de mon temps m'ont courronnée

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Les poètes de mon temps m'ont couronnée de roses... (The poets of my time crowned me with ros…

  11. Moi, avoir jamais quelque chose avec ce petit journaliste !

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Moi, avoir jamais quelque chose avec ce petit journaliste!... (Me, get involved with that littl…

  12. Attendre que le protecteur soit parti...

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Attendre que le protecteur soit parti... (Waiting for her patron to leave...), 1838 Lithograph…

  13. Enchanté, M'sieu

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Enchanté, M'sieu de l'honneur de vous voir ! (Delighted, Sir, to have the pleasure of seeing y…

  14. Ah! ça, voyons, Mosieu le Baron

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Ah! ça, voyons, Mosieu le Baron... (Oh, come on, Mister Baron...), 1853 Lithograph Gift of Eug…

  15. Faut dire que ces bottines-là ...

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Faut dire que ces bottines-là... (I gotta say those little ankle-boots...), 1853 Lithograph Gi…

  16. Vous connaissez cette charmante personne ?

    Paul Gavarni (French, 1804–1866) Vous connaissez cette charmante personne?.... (Do you know that charming person?...), 1852 Lith…

  17. La Femme de ménage

    Alfred André Géniole (French, 1813–1861) La Femme de ménage (The Cleaning Lady), 1841–42 Lithograph Gift of Eugene L. Garba…