Title Creator Date Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Chariot of Apollo Sculptor: Tuby, Jean Baptiste (1630-1700) 1668-1670 1600s The world has thrilling powerful men of action.  There are no limits to what can be achieved.

Elegant, physical power.&nbsp; The fantasy ability to fly through water and air with grace and ease.<br>
The Samovar Painter: Carlsen, Emil 1920c. 1900s New Britain, CT United States The world is full of textural richness worth looking at.

The richness of light and the objects it caresses.&nbsp; This is a paean to the richness of visual experience, but with the simplest of materials -- just a light source and two kinds of simple unadorned objects.<br>
David Sculptor: Buonarotti, Michelangelo 1504 1500s Man is a strong, indomitable creature who has the intelligence to overcome terrible odds.

[requires assumption of some context of this work -- not a "cold" introduction to it]: A man able to face a daunting task, with tremulous calm and determination. This is the depiction of the David/Goliath story of the Bible in which David takes on the much more formidable Goliath and wins.
Niobe Sculptor: unknown c. 200 BC Human action is beautiful.

Life is movement.
Pieta Sculptor: Buonarotti, Michelangelo 1500 1500s United States Resignation in the face of tragedy.

Recognition and acceptance of a great personal loss.
Comedia Painter: Dewing, Thomas Wilmer 1892-4c 1800s Philadelphia United States Life is sumptuous and beautiful and alive.

Feminine vivacity and gaiety
Rape of Polyxena, The Sculptor: Fedi, Pio 1866 1800s United States Strength and complex beauty are central.
Vitality, passion and action are hallmarks of this work.

Life is complex strife, entwined with strong god-like characters.
Three Graces Sculptor: Canova, Antonio 1814 1800s The female human form is beautiful, graceful, ideal.

Quiet repose and sisterly love. The piece exudes a quiet elegance and peacefulness amidst the complex three-dimensional composition. The inclusion of "sisterly love" is less certain, except that taking into account the mythological background of the piece. It can be argued that one should not take that into account, so perhaps that should not formally be included in the theme.
Old Man with a Young Boy Painter: Ghirlandaio, Domenico 1490 1400s United States Human companionship or family closeness is real.

Quiet familial love. (A grandfather (perhaps) gazing upon a grandson, and vice versa, in a clear moment of happy communion.)
Head of a Bearded Man Domenichino 1625c 1600s Pensive, worried, detached qualities of humanity

Worry is the way of the world.
Trees Alexander, John 1899 1900s United States A sense of the world as dynamic and strong.

Nature is wild and dynamic.
Repose Painter: Alexander, John White 1895 1900s New York United States Life is extravagant and lush and sensual.

Feminine Sensuality is a main theme, though one can argue that a related (equal theme or sub-theme) is: The Lushness of the Material World. The dramatic draped womanly figure pressing against a divan, whose figure is clearly oulined, shares the visual dominance of the painting along with the magnificent sweeps of her dress and the giant pillows, the massive backrest, and even the strong elements of the floor material and the golden back wall. All together a remarkable composition.
Her Face to the Wind Painter: Hosner, William 2006 2000s United States One gets the feeling that the young woman is able to stand strong in the world, with panache and beauty all at once.

Facing life in a fresh, strong, vivacious way.
Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) Sculptor: Agesander 1st century BCE to 1st century CE 500 BCE - 1 CE United States Life is a desperate, agonizing struggle.

The heroic but agonizing defeat of Men. This sculpture certainly represents at the same time the heroic nature of men but cast into an impossible situation that can only be tragic.
La Gomena (Towing a Boat) Painter: Tito, Ettore 1909 1900s Roma Italy There is great effort in life, and a woman can be the master of it.
This painting is a curious combination of romantic heroism and 19th century genre naturalism. It has a visual dynamism and dramatic content that is strongly romantic, yet the subject is the prosaic task of pulling a boat out of the water.

The will and the power of a woman. Implacable determination.
La Grande Nevrose Loysel, Jacques c.1896 1800s The dynamic female body is beautiful and exciting. Although it may not explicitly suggest it, the nude and its tense position could be felt as erotic.

An animated female body is a vessel of perfection.
Riace Bronze A Myron? c.460 BCE 500 BCE - 1 CE Reggio Calabria Italy Man is strong and indomitable

Intelligence, Pride, Strength = Man
Shade, The Rodin, Auguste 1880-1904 1900s Paris France Life is a gruesome trial. There is no hope.

The world destroys man. (Some unknown evil force is destroying this young strong man.) Given that the sculpture is titled as a "Shade" and is related to the Group sculpture "Gates of Hell", one can presume the evil is some unnamed condition that can overpower life and cause destruction of the good.
Moods to Music Blum, Robert Frederick 1895 1900s Cincinnati United States

Life is colorful and glorious.

Pure joy of movement and femininity.
Winged Victory Sculptor: unknown 190 BCE c. 500 BCE - 1 CE Paris France

One of the great expressions of the Greek Classical and Hellenistic spirit -- that men (and women) are larger than life and triumphant.  While the image is partially a fantasy since the woman is winged and probably represents a goddess: Nike -- this concretization depicts a "god" in the form of a human woman, thus glorifying women.

The grandeur of being alive and free.