Psyché

Psyche — the mortal girl whose love for Eros defied divine jealousy and eventually achieved immortality — was one of the most beloved mythological subjects of the Neoclassical and early Romantic era. The story from Apuleius's Golden Ass offered painters a vehicle for the idealised female nude combined with themes of love, suffering, and ultimate apotheosis. Regnault treated the subject — its exact moment unspecified by the title alone — with the smooth classical figure painting that was his signature. Psyche's transitional nature (mortal becoming divine) allowed Regnault to infuse the idealised body with a quality of spiritual aspiration that distinguished it from purely sensuous treatments of the nude. The subject was a favourite of Canova in sculpture, and Regnault's pictorial treatment implicitly measured itself against the sculptor's celebrated marble group.

Psyche is conventionally depicted with butterfly wings — the symbol of the soul in Greek — which add a decorative element to the composition while identifying the figure. Regnault renders the wings with a lightness of touch that complements the figure's smooth, polished skin. The overall palette tends toward light, luminous tones appropriate to a subject associated with soul and aspiration.