Sculpture

The Great Sphinx of Giza was constructed in the Old Kingdom of Ancient Egypt during the reign of Khafra, it is the largest monolith statue and monumental sculpture in the world.

The Great Sphinx was so named about 2000 years after its construction. Despite its prominence, very little is known about the statue, though the face of the Sphinx is generally believed to represent the Pharaoh Khafre; however, there are no inscriptions anywhere describing its construction or original purpose. It is not even known what it was originally called, as no references survive in known Egyptian sources, sphinx being the name of a similar classical Greek creature.

The Great Sphinx is so old that its first restoration dates to 1400 BC, when it was already a thousand years old.

The Great Sphinx of Giza by By MusikAnimal 

A carved self-portrait on a stone stele, or slab, by Bak, sculptor to the Pharaoh Akhenaten in ancient Egypt, is thought to be the earliest surviving self-portrait. It dates to 1345 BC and depicts Bak with his wife Taheret.

The Ancient Olympics were staged in the wooded valley of Olympia in Elis. Here the Greeks erected statues and built temples in a grove dedicated to Zeus, supreme among the gods. The greatest shrine was an ivory and gold statue of Zeus. Created by the sculptor Phidias, it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Ancient Roman and Greek sculptors colored their statues, and most were painted or "polychromed." Over the course of years, rain washed the colors off the marble. White marble fashion came with Renaissance.

During the Middle Ages, Gothic sculpture represented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith. Romanesque sculptors working on the churches showed a boundless imagination. In particular the tortures of hell inspired some fantastic scenes. So much so that some of the church authorities complained. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, for instance, remarked on this subject "What good are all these horrible monkeys, ferocious lions, and imaginary centaurs? We spend more time looking at these strange creatures than thinking about 'God's law'".

Judas Iscariot hangs himself, assisted by devils. Autun Cathedral. By La case photo de Got 

The Capitoline Museums, the oldest public collection of art in the world, began in 1471 when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of important ancient sculptures to the people of Rome.

The revival of classical models in the Renaissance produced famous sculptures such as Michelangelo's 13ft high stone carving of King David, which he unveiled in 1504.

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin took some of the sculptures, now called the Elgin Marbles, from the Parthenon in 1759. They have been on display in the British Museum since 1816.

Artist Edwin Landseer’s four bronze lions have lain at the foot of Nelson’s Column in London's Trafalgar Square since 1867. It took him nine years from receiving the £17,000 commission (worth over £1.7 million today), to installing all four, which are not identical — each has a different face and mane.

The statue by Auguste Rodin that has come to be called "The Thinker" was not meant to be a portrait of a man in thought. It was originally called "The Poet" and depicted Dante.

Le Penseur in the Musée Rodin in Paris

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, United States. Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, it features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

The Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., featuring a sculpture of the sixteenth U.S. President Abraham Lincoln by Daniel Chester French, opened in 1922.

Fallen Astronaut is an an 8.5-centimeter (3.3 in) aluminum sculpture meant to depict an astronaut in a spacesuit, commemorating the astronauts and cosmonauts who died in the advancement of space exploration. It was placed on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 15 on August 1, 1971.

The Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park in the Caribbean island of Grenada became the world's first underwater sculpture park when it opened in 2006. It comprises concrete figures, mostly of people, installed on the ocean floor.

The Blue Mustang, a 32-foot tall sculpture of a blue horse at Denver International Airport. It was designed by sculptor Luis Jiménez who was unable to complete the project after the head fell on him and severed an artery in his leg, killing him in 2006. His staff and family finished the job for Jiménez and it was unveiled at Denver International Airport on February 11, 2008.

Unilever, who own the brand Marmite, spent £15,000 on a sculpture of a Marmite jar in 2010 to honor the product.

"L'Homme au doigt" by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti was auctioned for $141.3m at Christie's in New York City on May 11, 2015, setting the record for most expensive sculpture sold at an auction. It is a slender, elongated figure of a man pointing with his right hand. The figure is only 6 feet tall, but it has a commanding presence. The surface of the sculpture is rough and unfinished, giving it a sense of movement and energy.

Giacometti created L'Homme au doigt in the aftermath of World War II. The sculpture is a powerful expression of the artist's hopes for the future. The man pointing is a symbol of hope and resilience. He is pointing to a better future, a future of peace and prosperity.

L'Homme au doigt Alberto Giacometti

"Geese in Flight,” which stands along the “Enchanted Highway” between Regent and Gladstone in North Dakota, holds the Guinness World Record as the largest scrap metal sculpture.

Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city.