Cardinal Lagrange's skeleton

Missing works of art...

Before the French Revolution, we found plenty of nice graves here:

• cardinal Pierre de Cros' grave, founder of the church;
• cardinal d'Aigrefeuille’s grave;
• Raymond de Beaufort’s grave (the famous ″plague of Provence″ Raymond de Turenne’s uncle);
• Jean Fabri bishop of Chartres’ one;
• Jacques de Causans’ tombstone...

And we have the marble bust of pope Urban V, from his grave raised in Avignon church of Saint-Martial.

We can see it today in Avignon Calvet museum!

... and an exceptional transi

A transi?

In this church there used to be a giant grave (15 m. high): cardinal de La Grange' tombstone, flanked by an impressive skeleton statue!

This kind of statue is a transi in French (″cadaver tomb″).

In medieval and Renaissance art, it was the sculpture of a dead man. A realistic representation of a cadaver.

Do you know we have several transis in France?

The one of René de Châlon in Bar-le-Duc, Louis XII and Anne of Brittany’s transis in Saint-Denis basilica…

Lagrange’s skeleton

Today, Lagrange’s transi is displaying in the Petit-Palais museum in Avignon.

Lagrange was bishop of Amiens and king Charles V’s minister.

He moved in Avignon after the king’s death, and died here in 1402. His bones were buried in a giant and gorgeous grave.

The 15 metres high grave is in a Gothic arch protected by a gate in the lower part.

Behind this gate were 5 ranks of characters! On the foreground, the transi.

Above, 5 floors of statues which represented the Virgin’s life!