For many years, comparisons with two later sculpted groups pointed research towards an Adoration of the Magi. However, some elements are more reminiscent of a funerary context.
Adoration des Mages.
Church of Saint Nicolas, Toulouse.
Image d'archives
Adoration des Mages.
Lavaur Cathedral (Tarn).
Image d'archives
Stele de Jean Dubos et Catherine Bernard.
Tournai Cathedral.
Image d'archives
The Virgin with Child from the tympanum of the Church of Saint Nicolas in Toulouse has a youthful appearance and is holding the Child facing towards the right like Nostre Dame de Grasse; she is also wearing a light crown, and the Child is plump and well-proportioned. A comparison with the Virgin from the tympanum of the Cathedral of Saint Alain (Lavaur, Tarn) is possibly still more relevant, owing to the treatment of the drapery, full, dynamic and deeply carved. But while these analogies seem to indicate that the sculptors of these works had had the opportunity to see Nostre Dame de Grasse, they have not reproduced its main original feature: the opposing orientations of the mother and Child; nor do their works have the same delicacy of contour.
On the other hand, this composition is frequently found in Parisian art from the end of the 13th Century, before it became more widely distributed a century later. The Virgin and Child, who are looking in different directions, are then surrounded by figures of saints or donors.
Moreover, the inscription Nostre Dame de Grasse suggests an appeal for intercession by the Virgin that would have been particularly relevant in a funerary context such as that for which Nostre Dame may have been commissioned.