an idea occurred to me... what if the sculptures when you looked at their info, had a picture made by artists and fans of the game based on whatever the sculpture is about (only the generic things; like fires breaking out, fights, holding a bleeding out colonist etc.)
it would give just a really strong vibe/theme (almost reminiscent to the Virtual Villager series)
you could have the picture look deteriorated when its poor, just colourless when its normal, and coloured when its gold.
The descriptions are really flavorful and interesting, and often make more sense that art appreciation texts i've seen.
I can't imagine that any generic picture would do anything but detract what imagination provides.
Tynan stated that simplified pawn graphic will help player imagine thier actual appearance. I think it works to what you are saying too.
I do hope to see fan-made Tale-to-Picture fan arts. It will be very interesting.