Seated Nude (Les Regrets)

Seated Nude (Les Regrets), painted around 1845, belongs to a group of female nudes Millet produced in his early career that reveal an aspect of his practice largely overshadowed by his later agricultural subjects. Working in the tradition of Flemish and French academic figure painting, Millet produced sensuous nudes for the commercial market that sustained Parisian studios throughout the July Monarchy period. The title Les Regrets—Regrets—gives the figure a melancholy, introspective quality that distinguishes it from purely academic nude studies, suggesting a psychological engagement consistent with Millet's emerging interest in the inner life of his subjects. These early nudes demonstrate Millet's mastery of the figure before his Barbizon reorientation toward clothed peasant subjects transformed his artistic identity.

The figure is rendered with warm, sensuous flesh tones derived from Millet's study of Italian and Flemish Old Masters. The soft, golden lighting and the figure's contemplative pose create an atmosphere of private intimacy that contrasts with the public character of his later peasant subjects.