In the second half of the 19th century, respectable women, occasional, illegal, and officially registered prostitutes were virtually indistinguishable from each other when they mingled in public places.
An air of ambiguity prevailed during daylight hours, when all forms of overt soliciting were prohibited. This lack of differentiation made it difficult to define what constituted prostitution and to pinpoint its boundaries.
In working-class circles, women who had modest jobs β such as manual workers, milliners, florists or laundresses β were too poorly paid to afford decent accommodation or feed themselves adequately, especially if they had a family to support.
Some therefore occasionally resorted to prostitution to supplement their earnings. However, streetwalkers blended into the crowd, detectable only by their words, actions a skirt lifted to reveal a glimpse of ankle boot , contrived poses or eloquent expressions a hint of a smile, a furtive or meaningful look as depicted in the works of Boldini and Valtat.
These fluid, intangible identities fascinated artists, who recreated the ambiguous climate of modern Paris in works where their contemporaries recognised the variously encoded allusions to the world of prostitution. The city attracted a large number of tourists for whom specialist guides were published.
