![](http://www.tumblr.com/share/photo?source=http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Fstorage%2Fcache%2Fimages%2F000%2F014%2F20074%2Clarge.jpg%3F1382211450&caption=%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca href="http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Falbums%2Faspiring-courtesans%2Fcontent%2Freine-de-joie%2F" title="Reine de joie"%3EReine de joie%3C/a%3E%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3EPierre Bonnard
(French, 1867–1947)
Reine de joie (Queen of Joy), 1892
Color lithograph
Gift of Robert M. Light (OC 1950), 2007.4
As the century wore on, the social type of the lorette, or aspiring courtesan, would evolve into that of the pampered cocotte or grande horizon-tale, inhabitants of the demimonde, or half world between high society and the low life of the common prostitute. Serial mistresses like novelist Émile Zola’s title character, Nana, make no at-tempt to hide their sexual availability. They live in luxury apartments and engage in the leisure ac-tivities of high society: carriage rides on the Champs-Élysées, afternoons at the racetrack at Longchamp, outings in the Bois de Boulogne, or evenings in a fashionable box at the opera or theater.
This print is the cover art to a novel by French writer Victor Joze, Queen of Joy: Manners of the Demimonde, the story of the life and times of a Parisian courtesan.
%3C/p%3E&click_thru=http%3A%2F%2Flibbymurphy.com%2Fhumancomedy%2Falbums%2Faspiring-courtesans%2Fcontent%2Freine-de-joie%2F){kind=link}
The Human Comedy: Chronicles of 19th-Century France
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
As the century wore on, the social type of the lorette, or aspiring courtesan, would evolve into that of the pampered cocotte or grande horizon-tale, inhabitants of the demimonde, or half world between high society and the low life of the common prostitute. Serial mistresses like novelist Émile Zola’s title character, Nana, make no at-tempt to hide their sexual availability. They live in luxury apartments and engage in the leisure ac-tivities of high society: carriage rides on the Champs-Élysées, afternoons at the racetrack at Longchamp, outings in the Bois de Boulogne, or evenings in a fashionable box at the opera or theater.
This print is the cover art to a novel by French writer Victor Joze, Queen of Joy: Manners of the Demimonde, the story of the life and times of a Parisian courtesan.