Portrait of a Woman, Said to Be Emily Bertie Pott

Emily Warren, also known as ''Emily Bertie'', ''Emily Coventry'' and ''Emily Pott'', (died 1781 or 1782} was a celebrated

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress (lover), mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the Royal cour ...

in 18th century London who was painted by

Sir Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter, specialising in portraits. John Russell said he was one of the major European painters of the 18th century. He promoted the "Grand Style" in painting which depend ...

, George Romney,

Nathaniel Dance Sir Nathaniel Dance (20 June 1748 – 25 March 1827) was an officer of the East India Company who had a long and varied career on merchant vessels, making numerous voyages to India and back with the fleets of East Indiamen. He was already awar ...

, and the Scottish miniaturist Charles Shirreff, although the images of Warren by Dance and Shirreff are lost or unidentified. Warren figured prominently in the memoirs of William Hickey.

Biography

As a child, Warren wandered the streets with her blind beggar father. At the age of 12 Warren was "discovered" by

Charlotte Hayes Charlotte Hayes (c. 1725–1813) was a highly successful brothel keeper in early Georgian London, and the owner of some of the city's most luxurious brothels in and around King's Place, in St James's. Biography Although the precise detail ...

and trained to work as a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

in Hayes' "nunnery". Hayes taught her deportment and manners and she received "universal admiration". Hickey saw Warren around this time before departing for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1776. Reynolds probably first met Warren at Hayes' establishment in the late 1770s. He, and other artists, were known to visit London's

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

s in search of models. Warren left Hayes' establishment to become the mistress of Charles Greville, who commissioned Reynold to paint her as

Thaïs Thaïs or Thais ( el, Θαΐς; flourished 4th century BC) was a famous Greek ''hetaira'' who accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaigns. Likely from Athens, she is most famous for instigating the burning of Persepolis. At the time, Thaï ...

. In 1778 she left Grenville to be "kept" by Hickey's friend, Captain Robert (Bob) Pott of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. He set her up in a house in Cork Street, with liveried servants, a yellow carriage and a box at the opera house. In July 1780 Pott left for India and in the same month Hickey returned from the colony. Hickey and Warren resumed their relationship. To support his view that Warren was 'perfection', Hickey sought the opinion of Reynolds, "whom all the world allowed to be a competent judge" of beauty. Reynolds "declared every limb of hers perfect symmetry, and altogether he had never seen so faultless and finely formed a human figure."

Death

Pott returned from India and the couple married. They sailed off to India to start a new life, much to the disapproval of Pott's father. Between

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

Warren died of a fever. Pott was so distraught that he had her coffin placed in a small boat that was towed behind the ship. On arrival in Calcutta her body was interred in the holy burial ground by the

Hooghly River The Bhagirathi Hooghly River (Anglicized alternatively spelled ''Hoogli'' or ''Hugli'') or the 'Bhāgirathi-Hooghly', called the Ganga or the Kati-Ganga in mythological texts, is the eastern distributary of the Ganges River in West Bengal, Indi ...

. Potts commissioned an architect, Mr Tiretta, to construct a mausoleum for her over the grave at a cost of £3,000 and a column for an additional £1,000.

References

Bibliography

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, Emily 1780s deaths English courtesans Year of birth missing English artists' models