From Wikipedia: The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man.
Editorial: If creating iconic work was so easy, then why is the Creation of Adam Michelangelo’s only truly iconic image ... 

The Barberini Faun, or Drunken Satyr, was either carved by an unknown Hellenistic sculptor in the late third or early second century BC or is a Roman copy of high quality. Its present form was given it by a series of restorers in Rome after its discovery in the 1620s. These restorations, commissioned by Pope Urban VIII’s nephew Cardinal Francesco Barberini, may have enhanced the sexual aspect of the statue. But, what’s the dog’s excuse? 

The Memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts Fifty-Fourth Regiment is a bronze relief sculpture by Augustus Saint Gaudens located in Boston Common, unveiled on May 31, 1897. The Shaw Memorial inspired the 1989 movie GLORY, which starred Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman, after screenwriter Kevin Jarre viewed the monument to Shaw and the 54th. The sculpture depicts the African-American 54th Regiment marching down Beacon Street on May 28, 1863. 

From Wikipedia: In 1918, Isamu Noguchi (1904 – 1988) was sent back to the U.S. for schooling in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. After graduation, he left with Dr. Edward Rumely to LaPorte, Indiana. Noguchi began attending LaPorte High School, graduating in 1922. During this period of his life, he was known by the name "Sam Gilmour." Pictured is the Sunken Garden for Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. A GIANT of the 20th Century, and a graduate from our high school, LaPorteans! 

The Dying Gaul is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture from 230 BC and 220 BC. The statue depicts a dying Celt, represented as a Gallic warrior with a typically Gallic hairstyle and moustache, which gives the figure a very contemporary appearance. An icon for the vanquished, it is the symbolic reminder that civilization marches forward by conquering territories and eliminating other peoples, and other species… 

Camille Claudel (1864 – 1943) was a French sculptor who made profound contributions to the world of art, for which the sculptor Rodin owes a debt of gratitude. She started working in Rodin's studio in 1884, as his muse, confidante and sculptor. Her vision and influence on Rodin is probably represented best in his Burgers of Calais, a commission on which she worked, for what is likely the first truly modernist monument. 

The Dead Toreador by Edouard Manet, originally seen at the Salon of 1864, is truly a modern work of art. It is a fragment of a larger painting called Incident in a Bullfight, which brilliantly accounts for its unusual composition. Critics panned the painting, so, Manet took a knife to the canvas and cut out The Dead Toreador from the painting, turning the painting into two works. The sculptor Rodin gets credit for introducing fragmentation to the art world – a birth of Modernism moment. Rodin would sculpt a whole figure, and then dismember it, using the fragments as works of art in their own right. But Manet’s fragmenting pre-dates Rodin’s by a decade. 

The Tondo Pitti is a high relief carved in marble by Michelangelo in 1504. A relief sculpture is generally hung on a wall, and meant to be viewed from the front like a picture. The depth of a relief is often described as high or low. For example, the relief of a coin is shallow, or very low. What makes this sculpture special for students are the chisel marks left by Michelangelo. They are the very clues of how he worked the forms of his sculpture. In this case, evidence of his chisel marks are less apparent on the Madonna, where there is more finish devoted to her portrait - a clue to the viewer about the actual focal point of the composition. 

Saturn Devouring His Son (1821-23) by Spanish artist Francisco Goya depicts Saturn eating his son in an attempt to avoid being overthrown by his children. Some consider it an allegory of Spain destroying her own people, based on the massacres and violence committed by both the French and Spanish armies during the Napoleonic occupation. But no one knows for sure, because Goya painted it for himself and left no records of his thoughts about the work. His personal imaginative visions, like this painting, defied the traditional academicism and conventionality of his time, sparking the development of modern aesthetic sensibility. In other words, Goya didn’t give a f**k about what was expected! He painted what he wanted to paint, the way he wanted to paint, because he was the king of his own jungle, and the world is better for it. 

The Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David in 1793, is an icon of the French Revolution. In the painting, David depicts his friend Marat as a martyr, though many considered him a blood-hungry radical. The painting was forced into hiding until the mid-nineteenth century, when the admiration for David’s formalistic prowess outweighed the controversy of his political leanings. Today, the painting seems as harmless as a snow monkey.