This work is still more enigmatic than the Crucifixion du Parlement de Toulouse: it was only clearly identified for the first time in the catalogue of the Musee des Augustins in 1805. Before that date, its trail is less certain.
Copy of the first mention of the work in the museum's catalogue, 1805.
The unrest during the Revolution caused a major displacement of works or art, so its provenance is still obscure. While the hypothesis placing it in the Abbey of Hautes Bruguieres has now been abandoned, it is still possible that it may be of Jacobin provenance. In fact, archive documents bear witness to the existence of an axial chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame de(s) Graces in the Church of the Jacobins in Toulouse at the end of the 15th Century.
In the same way, although the statue was for a time able to be attributed to the famous sculptor Jacques Morel on the basis of a deed of donation to the Jacobins in Toulouse passed in Avignon in 1443, its date has since been reevaluated and it is more likely to correspond with the second half of the 15th Century.
And it would be very unwise to draw conclusions as to the sculptor’s origins from the inscription in the Oil language. There is in fact no doubt that the inscription was requested and composed by the person who commissioned the statue. The choice of the Oil language rather than Occitan throws no light on the issue either. It is perfectly possible to imagine that an individual of Toulousain extraction might have chosen the language of the King and the members of his administration for diplomatic reasons !
Whatever the case, the anonymous creator of this exceptional work had a significant influence on subsequent sculpture in the region.