News caricature of a New Orleans brothel owner (1890)

News caricature of a New Orleans brothel owner (1890)

The Mascot and anonymous artist

1890

A cartoon in the periodical The Mascot of the infamous New Orleans brothel regent Emma Johnson as an octopus that captures the innocent passers-by. Below written in English "lewd and abandoned" (lustful and abandoned).
Although there is no direct connection with La Celestina, this tentacled representation is reminiscent of Celestina's famous spinning triangle, string and chain and her way of catching her victims. See Alan Deyermond's classic article, "Yarn-Cord-String: Symbolic Equivalence in La Celestina," Celestinesca 1 (1977): 1-12
http://parnaseo.uv.es/Celestinesca/Numeros/1977/VOL%201/NUM%201/1_articulo1.pdf

Archived in:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180430123417/http://parnaseo.uv.es/Celestinesca/Numeros/1977/VOL%201/NUM%201/1_articulo1.pdf

"The Mascot", 21 May 1892.
Found on Flickr www.flickr.com. February 21, 2017.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/infrogmation/3960449032

Archived in:
https://web.archive.org/web/20190129130639/https://www.flickr.com/photos/infrogmation/3960449032/

More information on Emma Johnson in: 
http://www.storyvilledistrictnola.com/madams.html

Archived in: 
http://web.archive.org/web/20160209111442/http://www.storyvilledistrictnola.com/madams.html