Morbid Outlook - Duality, The Life of Veronica Franco

Excerpt from Capitolo 19
You went away to foreign peoples,
and I stayed behind, the prey of that fire
which, without you, made my days black and sad;
but as the hours progressed, little by little,
I resolved to make a virtue of my need,
and to make room in myself for other concerns.
This was the true solution to my pain:
in this way my mind discovered at last
a cure for its deep and serious wounds;
your departure for foreign lands
mended the blow, although the scar
could not be completely erased.
Perhaps I would have been happy and glad
if I could have enjoyed you to my heart’s content,
and perhaps I’d have been unhappy instead.
The great excess of happiness
might have transformed the highest joy
into cruel, burdensome pain;
and if you’d gone, leaving me behind
at a time so full of such delight,
my distress would have had no end.
So heaven refused to make my hours
joyful and serene, to avoid reducing me
soon after to the worst, most bitter pain.
And I, freed by heaven to such a degree,
must remain content; and yet I’m not able
to hope that the opposite had not occurred.

The arts are the lifeblood of this world. Without them we would surely lead a bleak existence. Creation is the most satisfactory of feelings, and few can master it as both art and an inspiration to others. I have always been fascinated by the people in this world who can overcome all adversity to create something lasting and meaningful. One of my favorites is American painter Jean Michel Basquiat, though he is a modern model and today I am concerned with the past, specifically 400 years in Europe’s past.

In the 16th century, Venice was the most decadent city in all of Eastern Europe. The men were the most educated, best dressed, and richest in the world. Venice’s women on the other hand could be one of two things: a wife who lead a sheltered and constricting life or an independent woman. Of the two choices, the latter could only survive as a prostitute. A woman who was in this line of work had the ability to become educated as well as amass fortune. For a free thinking, smart, dare I say feminist woman, there was only one choice.

The Courtesan was the highest level a prostitute could achieve. A woman of this caliber had to be able to hold the attention of her clients both sexually and intellectually. The best would be taken on by full time patrons, and the very best would engage in “honest” activities with these patrons. The ultimate goal, platonic male patronage, moved these women up in class and social standing.

The most famous Venetian courtesan, Veronica Franco, was born in 1546. Veronica was the daughter of a former courtesan and contrary to assumption did not want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Married at an early age, she found herself in a loveless union and desperately wanted out. In Venice at this time, women were granted divorce, but it was very hard to sue for material possessions and alimony. Franco tried in vain to reclaim the dowry her parents could hardly afford in the first place, but with a family to support, including a young child, she was left with no other options. Veronica became a courtesan.

Franco excelled immensely well at her profession, almost too well. Veronica became allies with very powerful men. This was done in part to protect herself from the constraints of ordinary society. Because of this, Franco was given the opportunity to publish her poetry wherein she defends the rights of women, particularly courtesans, and later in life reflects on love. Former Venetian senator, member of a noble family, and Veronica’s main patron, Domenico Venier, also held the most influential salon in Venice. He had informal literary meetings on a regular basis and was obviously a very important man to Veronica. Venier allowed her to become an honest courtesan and eventually an honest woman by funding her creative output. He also financed Franco to purchase a large collection of books that were the envy of the European intelligentsia.

From 1570 to 1580 Franco created and published poetic works as well as a large collection of letters from the female viewpoint. Before this time, poetic works were written with both female and male dialog, but Veronica’s written compositions lack a male point of view. Franco reflects on her life and about how she saw the world around her. The work is confessional and intensely open and honest. Most female writers before and during the Renaissance took extreme care not to tread on the male ego, but Franco wrote whatever she felt.

Veronica Franco’s published works eventually made her wealthy. This allowed her to give up the life of a courtesan. She achieved a level of fame and social standing that few ladies of the night, before or since, ever have. Using her new found fame, Veronica collected a series of anthologies encompassing other important literary figures’ works. This was done to add to the glory of Venice and of course secure her social standing. With civic duties in mind, Veronica built a halfway house for courtesans and their children. She supported the organization with her honest earnings.

In 1575 the plague descended upon Venice. In a self imposed exile, Franco escaped the city and stayed away, writing prolifically, for two years. While she was away, her home in Venice was ransacked and her possessions were stolen. This left her with nothing of value. To make matters worse, in an effort to save her own life, she brought upon herself a series of inquisitional trials. These events started a chain reaction that Franco was never to recover from. Charged with witchcraft, Veronica was publicly humiliated. Although she successfully defended herself using her wit and intelligence, the stigma was permanent. Domenico Venier died in 1582 and left her with little financial support. Nothing more was to ever be published by Veronica; she died sometime in 1591.

Dually opposing creative challenges marked Franco’s life. On the one hand she wanted to be taken seriously as an honest woman and poet but on the other hand she made her living in a far from honest profession. Without the freedom of a courtesan’s lifestyle she would never have been given the opportunity to become educated and publish her work. Even though much of Franco’s life was bound up in a catch-22, the outcome was obviously worth the consequences.

Veronica Franco’s power for observation and her forward thinking attitude, as well as her ability to successfully bend the rules of poetry, make her body of work significant to many. She overcame all obstacles to create something that has stood the test of time. As Generation X, the lost generation, comes of age, it is experiencing a lack of qualified examples to look up to. Today’s America is full of people who are becoming famous and rich for unworthy acts. It needs people who can inspire it to greatness. Veronica Franco is one of those important role models. Veronica ignored what people thought of her. She educated herself and held her own place in a male world, but above all else, Franco cared for her art.