Lamoricière cenotaph, Marble cenotaph in Nantes Cathedral, France

The Lamoricière cenotaph is a white marble memorial in Nantes Cathedral, inaugurated in 1879. A recumbent figure of the general lies on a carved plinth beneath a canopy of dark polished columns and pilasters alternating with white, topped by a segmental pediment. Four dark bronze seated figures by sculptor Paul Dubois stand at the corners, and Latin inscriptions such as "SPES" and the names of the Lesdiguières and Lamoricière families are carved on the pediments.

The cenotaph was inaugurated in 1879 in Nantes Cathedral, erected at the initiative of Bishop Alexandre Jaquemet with the support of Pope Pius IX, in gratitude for General de La Moricière's defence of the Holy See during the Italian political troubles of the 1860s. The general died in 1865 and is buried at Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu, his family's home; the monument is therefore empty. It is classified as a Monument Historique.

Latin cartouches on the sides pair Fides, Fortitudo and Consilium with Caritas, Justitia and Virtus, and a long inscription at the foot of the slab lists the general's African campaigns, the 1848 events, the defence of the Holy See and the deaths of two of his children. The acroteria at each end of the canopy carry the arms of the Juchault de La Moricière family at the foot and those of Pope Pius IX at the head.

The cenotaph occupies the transept of Nantes Cathedral, opposite the tomb of François II, so both can be compared from the same spot. The four bronze Virtues stand at the corners of the base, the seated Charity and Wisdom at the head end, Faith and Military Courage at the other. Look up at the acroteria on the canopy for the arms of the Juchault de La Moricière family and of Pope Pius IX.

The four bronze Virtues at the corners are by Paul Dubois, not by Moisseron d'Angers, who executed the architectural work. Dubois belonged to the 19th-century group of sculptors known as the Néo-Florentins, and the seated figures at the angles recall the tomb of Anne de Bretagne and Louis XII at Saint-Denis, carved by the Italian Juste brothers.