The small sculptural group (a figure of a praying girl and a lamb lying to her right) is signed on a marble base, with a carved inscription on the back: "T.O. Sosnowski inv. et boul. 1854 / Romae". On the front of the base, however, a carved inscription also runs: "Beata Germana Cousin Virgo / Die 7 Maji 1854 A Pio IX P.M. in Beat. Albin scribebat".

St Germaine Cousin (1579-1601) came from Pibrac near Toulouse and died there. Severely ill since childhood, she was a shepherdess and was famous for her pious life, devoting herself entirely to prayer.

She was canonised in 1867. A huge neo-Byzantine pilgrimage basilica (on a hill near the old Gothic church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine) had been erected in Pibrac since 1896, due to the growing cult of the saint. Earlier, Germaine had been beatified by Pope Pius IX, just on 7 May 1854, according to the inscription on the base of the statue. Sosnowski made the sculpture for the occasion, as evidenced by a reproduced engraving published as early as 20 May that year in the journal L'Album in Rome. The artist gave the work to the Bishop of Orléans, Félix Antoine Dupanloup (who was seeking this and other French beatifications in Rome, including that of Joan of Arc), but it is not known whether it went directly to Pibrac. The sculpture is in keeping with Sosnowski's typical style of correctly executed academic sculpture, with references to Italian Neoclassicism of the first half of the 19th century. Most depictions of Germany date from the period after her canonisation, the most famous being a marble statue by Alexandre Falguière chiseled in 1877 in Toulouse. The magnificent neo-Gothic reliquary, located in the church of Sainte Marie-Madeleine, was made in 1854 by M. Favier, a goldsmith from Lyon. Sosnowski's statue is in the side chapel, beneath a large painting by the well-known academician Jean-Paul Laurens, depicting the apotheosis of Germany; the statue is in a state of considerable neglect; placed on an altar frequented by pilgrims, it is surrounded by constantly burning candles, partly smoky, the marble yellowed in many places; numerous votive offerings, rosaries hang on the statue.