This book is published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the famous painting by Gustave Courbet. The photographs were taken from the early 1980s to the present day. It includes an essay about the history of this image and its theme in literature from antiquity to the present. Interspersed among the images are quotes from authors, also dating back to antiquity. One of the included quotes: "I say 'wings' because the Greeks call these labia 'himenoea'; the Latins call them 'alae', the French 'labies, levrès, lendrons, landielles' and so on; however, I find that the Latins aptly refer to them as wings; for no animal and no bird flies better or with faster wings. When touched or viewed, one feels and sees how they excite and move on their own when in desire." (Brantome, around 1584).