You must join the virtual exhibition queue when you arrive. If capacity has been reached for the day, the queue will close early. Not on view. The high platform shoes known as chopines came into fashion in Venice in the sixteenth century.
Awkward yet practical, they served to keep the wearer's precariously perched feet from getting wet or soiled in the city's perpetually damp byways and also to signal her elevated social status.
It was once thought that very high chopines, as much as twenty inches, were worn by courtesans to establish a highly visible public profile. Like expensive jewels and silk gowns, chopines were favored both by patrician women and the successful courtesans who contrived to emulate their appearance by donning expensive finery.
Such fancy footwear does not unequivocally signal that its owner was a courtesan, but the chopines-shod woman in Pietro Bertelli's erotic flap print This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded. As part of the Met's Open Access policy , you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes. This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left.
Scroll left to view more. Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item. Title: Chopines. Date: ca. Culture: Italian. Medium: leather, silk, wood.
