'Las tapadas’: A Proposal about the Representation of Prostitution in Spanish Painting of the Golden Age

Abstract

During the Spanish Golden Age it was common for great painters, the likes of Velázquez or Murillo, to paint representations of common people, as for example pickpockets. In this article we propose that a female type, the woman who covers only one of her eyes, known as the ‘tapada de un solo ojo’ or the ‘tapada de medio lado’, was intended as a depiction of the luxury prostitute in the 17^th century.