12inch x 18inch Poster The first living statue is lost to time. No one knows when the practice of life imitating art first occurred. Perhaps the first models for Greek sculptures were made to appear as statues, to help the sculptor capture the image. The first modern living statues appear first in the 19th century as circus and performance artists. This is an example of one of the performances held in a circus around the turn of the century. There is a border around the image. The image size is correct.