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Whores of Yore Profile picture
@WhoresofYore
Sep 23, 2020 • 11 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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This is a portrait of Wilhelmine, Countess of Lichtenau (1753-1820). She was s the official mistress of King Frederick William II of Prussia & was elevated by him into the ranks of the aristocracy.

Thread! Image
The portrait is full of highly sexually charged imagery. Apart from the nipples, kissing doves, the gushing water pipe, the splayed gun case, & the panting dog, all suggest naughtiness.
She was known as “Beautiful Wilhelmine" & was the subject & satire and faked memoirs. Including one that claimed all the rude bits have been omitted the language “was so gross and indelicate, that, out of respect to religion and morality, it was necessary to omit them.”
The portrait was painted by this woman; Polish artist, Anna Dorothea Therbusch (1721-1782). Anna was a child art prodigy, but gave it up when she married Berlin innkeeper Ernst Friedrich Therbusch in 1742 to help her husband in the restaurant. Image
When her husband died in 1760, Anna returned to art. Starting over at 40 years old she achieved considerable success. The French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture displayed her work and she became an honorary member of the Stuttgart Academy of the Arts.
French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-84) said of Anna, Image
But such remarks seem to be an over compensation for his feelings for her. In 1767, he sat for Anna so she could draw his portrait from the neck up. According to his letters, Diderot felt his clothes were in the way, so entirely stripped off. He wrote.... Image
Anna, ever the professional, finished the drawing and Diderot put his clothes back on and wrote letters to his friends about the whole thing.

…anicreview.journals.cdrs.columbia.edu/wp-content/upl… Image
The image drawn hasn’t survived, but this is a replica of it.

Quite what was going on between them is not fully known, but they became close and he introduced her to the leading lights of the Parisian art world. Image
Anna went on to paint portraits of some of the most powerful people in Europe, including Catherine the Great.
She died in Berlin on 9 November 1782 and was buried at Dorotheenstadt cemetery. Anna’s relationship with Diderot inspired Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt to write his play Der Freigeist ("The Free Spirit"), also known as Der Libertin ("The Libertine"). Image

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More from @WhoresofYore

Whores of Yore Profile picture
Apr 25
Today is #WorldPenguinDay , so here is a story about the “astonishing depravity" and "hooligan males" of the Adélie penguins recorded in Cape Adare in 1911. The book cover of “Antarctic Penguins” by Dr G Murray Levick, RN. The book has a Lon army green cover with the title in white text and Levick’s name in black. In the centre of the cover are two Adelie penguins facing each other, with their bellies touching, as if in an embrace. It’s quite a wholesome image with no hint of the horrendous penguin depravity that is to come.
This is George Murray Levick, a scientist with the 1910-13 Scott Antarctic Expedition. He arrived at Cape Adare in 1911 & observed the penguins for a year. He was the first scientist ever to observe the breeding cycle of the penguins. A black and white photo of George Levick on Antarctic expedition. He’s on a boat (I think), sitting up against a wooden wall. He looks to be mending a leather boot, he’d smoking a pipe and isn’t looking at the camera. He’s wearing a white woolly hat, a pale coloured wooly jumper and sturdy trousers. He’s a rugged, outdoorsy type and powerfully built, He looks very much like someone who should be singing sea shanties in a Cornish pub for a pint and ale and a pickled egg.
George photographed the penguins throughout. This is one of his. A fuck load of Adelie penguins crowded together on an iceberg. The photo is black and white, so can’t see much detail because of the crappy 1911 resolution, but it’s still a very beautiful image. The penguins on top of the iceberg are reflected in the water below them.
Read 11 tweets
Whores of Yore Profile picture
Mar 3
I can’t believe I’ve been woken up the for this, but here we go.

1. The historian Strabo (64BCE - 24 ACE) described operations on the clitoris

2. Galen (129-126 ACE) called the clitoris “the nymph” in his “on the usefulness of the parts of the body.”

3. Soranus of Ephesus (1st century ACE) also calls it a “nymph” and describes it as “hidden underneath the labia such as young brides hide under their veil.”
4. Other ancient writers who describe the clitoris include, Caelius Aurelianus, Iianus, Albucasis, and Avicenna. They would call it a “nymph,” a “myrtleberry,” or “tongue bag.” The romans called it “landica.”
5. Although the clitoris is not mentioned in the Kama Sutra, it was in other ancient Hindu texts. The Sanskrit for clitoris is “smart-chatra,” which translates to “umbrella of the love god.” (Best. Clit. Fact. Ever.)
Read 9 tweets
Whores of Yore Profile picture
Sep 18, 2023
Wewe Gombel is a female ghost in Javanese folklore. It is said that she kidnaps children and hides them under her breasts.

Thread Giovanni Battista de' Cavalieri 1585 depiction of "Monsters from all parts of the ancient and modern world", roughly corresponding to a depiction of Wewe Gombel, a spirit of the Indonesian folklore. This is a black and white print of Wewe Gombel. She is a naked woman, with cloven hoofs, who is wearing her boobs like a feather boa. Both breasts droop to the floor and she has wrapped them around her upper arms, like a fox stole. She has long, clawed nails, and wiry hair that is standing on end. She is outside somewhere. Considering what she’s gone through, she looks quite serene.
Wewe Gombel, or “Hantu Kopek" as she’s known in Malaysia, has a complicated legend. It is said that in life, she married the man of her dreams, but they never had children because she was infertile.
Her husband grew resentful and began shagging around. One day, Wewe Gombel caught her husband in bed with another woman. She flew into a rage & killed him.
Read 6 tweets
Whores of Yore Profile picture
Jul 22, 2023
July 22nd is the Feast Day of Mary Magdalene in the Christian faith. Much has been made of who Mary was, but she almost certainly wasn’t a sex worker. That story came about in 591, when Pope Gregory I got his Marys muddled.

Thread Saint Mary Magdalene by Guido Reni. An oil painting dating to 1620 of Mary Magdalene. Saint Mary Magdalene is here depicted with eyes raised heavenward, a sign of her devotion and penance. She has pale skin and long blonde, curly hair. She must have her curly girl method down, because those curls are amazing. She has on a red cloak that she clutches at her chest. The background is nondescript and dark. She has that pained, eyes to heaven look so many saints are fond of.
Mary Magdalene, (who debuts in Luke 8:2) was mixed up with with Mary of Bethany (Luke 10:39), and the anonymous "sinful woman" who washed Jesus's feet in Luke 7:36–50.
The Mary who washed Jesus’ feet had been up to naughty things & all three were conflated. To be fair, there are quite a few Marys knocking about.
Read 9 tweets
Whores of Yore Profile picture
Mar 31, 2023
Mary Carleton (1642-73) was the most infamous thief & harlot of Port Royal, Jamaica. She was said to be “A stout frigate … or else she never could have endured so many batteries & assaults … she was as common as a barber’s chair: no sooner was one out, but another was in.”
🧵 A black and white woodcut print of Mary Carleton. Below her
Mary was born Mary Moders in Canterbury, England - possibly to a fiddler. There is not much that is certain about her life because she was an exceptional bullshit artist. Most of what we know about her was written in jail reports that were designed to shock, or from Mary herself.
These reports say Mary married a shoemaker called Thomas Stedman, who she eventually left to marry a surgeon called Thomas Day. Her first arrest and trial was for bigamy.
Read 11 tweets
Whores of Yore Profile picture
Jan 26, 2023
This is the legendary burlesque artist & 'vaginiste', Honeysuckle Devine. She was once described as a 'one woman slum', & had one of the most extraordinary acts in the history of burlesque.

Thread A black and white photograph of a young white woman, in a lo
Honeysuckle was born Betty Allsup in Rock Island, Illinois in 1938. She was one of 14 children & described her father as a 'hillbilly, banjo-playing lumberjack.'
As a teenager she became deeply religious & at 21 she went to Philadelphia to become a postulant at the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart Convent
Read 21 tweets

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