[1] The south group is titled The Burden of Life: The Broken Law, and is overseen by a heroic size bas relief of Adam and Eve.

The north group is titled Love and Labor: The Unbroken Law, and is overseen by a heroic size bas relief of a prosperous farmer and his wife.

It portrays life accomplishments and positive emotions – familial love, education, parenthood, religion – and the promise of the future generation.

The groups flanking the entrances to the House and Senate wings (on the west façade) were to depict early settlers of Pennsylvania— English, Quakers, Scotch-Irish, and Germans.

Eventually, a group of New York luminaries advanced funds for that purpose, as well as paying the bond that Barnard had lost because he had not delivered the works on time.

[2] Five heroic-size plaster sculptures for the Pennsylvania Capitol groups – The Prodigal Son, Brothers, The Young Parents, Kneeling Youth, Forsaken Mother – were part of an exhibition of Barnard's work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in October–November 1908.

[6] In a review in The International Studio, critic J. Nilsen Laurvik compared Barnard to Auguste Rodin and the recently deceased Augustus Saint-Gaudens, concluding: "[H]e is the one man most needed in the art life of our country; his work is like an invigorating breath of fresh sea air that must surely have its influence in giving a more vital and higher meaning to both life and art.

The understanding thus established between the artist and his public is the more to be welcomed because, up to a quite recent period, it had been felt by many observers that the modern school of sculpture was a hollow sort of survival, without much reason for being.

[5]The groups were carved in marble by the Piccirilli Brothers in New York City in 1909 and 1910,[2] and shipped to France to make their public debut at the Paris Salon.

[11] On Sunday, the canvas walls of the tents were cut down by art lovers who wished to view the sculptures before plaster loincloths were applied on Monday— "the great majority of the crowd being women," according to The Chicago Tribune.

[11] Instead of short trousers or loincloths, the Piccirilli Brothers carved marble sheaths to cover the genitals of the male figures, for which they charged $118.50.