Bishop Grimoard Standing on a Bull, from the Benedictine Abbey Church at Les Moreaux, France

These sculptural reliefs (AMAM 1948.1 & 2) of two bishops, each holding a crozier and making a sign of blessing, are from the Benedictine Abbey church at Les Moreaux (near the communes of Champagné-Saint-Hilaire and Sommières-du-Clain, south of Poitiers, France). They were still in situ in 1921 when they were photographed by Arthur Kingsley Porter, the expert on Romanesque sculpture, on the west front of the ruined church. The sculptures remained there until they were sold in 1931-32 with the assent of the French ministry of Fine Arts after the church had been delisted as a historical monument. The abbey, then overgrown with ivy, had been devastated during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion, and by the nineteenth century was already in ruins.

Guillaume Adelelme was bishop from 1124 until his death in 1140, and Grimoard from 1141 until his own death in 1142. Adelelme's statue was to the right, and Grimoard's to the left, as one faced the entrance door of the church. The inscriptions identifying the bishops (which have been installed under the figures in the AMAM) were originally between the sculptures and the door, at their shoulder level. These inscriptions also mentioned the church's Archdeacon Arnaud, documented in the service of the diocese from 1140 to 1155, providing the probable year by which they were made. Above the main door was a third inscription, likening the entrance to that of the Temple of Solomon, which was said to be described as "between a bull and lion." These two animals, known for their strength, were important symbols in many ancient religions, and along with the eagle and man became symbols of the evangelists.

These two figures, among the largest Romanesque figurative works in the United States, are elegant in appearance and seem to sway slightly with their flowing vestments, as their small feet shod in openwork leather sandals perch on the animals. They are especially important as they are among the very earliest sculptures of contemporary people to be used prominently in the iconography of church façades.