This book is a photo essay of all the 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century statues of nude men in the squares, parks and museums of Paris. The pictures concentrate on the rarely photographed backsides of these statues. It is a celebration of the beauty of the male nude from the back with a particular focus on the muscular strength, sensual curves and erotic power of the derriere. It also celebrates the sculptors who have created these statues. Almost half were recipients of the Grand Prix de Rome, an award for exceptional young artists to go to Rome to study the art of the antiquities and the Renaissance. The majority of the artists had works shown in the Salons of Paris and most received major awards and commissions. The text features literary quotes about the beauty of the male, often particularly the derriere, by authors from ancient times to the present. The book is the product of a flaneur who had the time and leisure to walk the streets of Paris for the last six years collecting these images always from behind.
