I think people have it backwards. A good picture can make anything look better but if it looks bad it's probably going to show more flaws in a lesser picture. It doesn't matter if it's a person, animal, house or statue. But like Monger said if it really looks good it's going to look good in any photo regardless of lighting, camera, etc. That's why I like to see the cell phone photos of statues before I get mine. It's harder to hide the defects in those types of pictures.
Yeah.
On the flip side, I hate seeing highly shopped pictures with ideal lighting and tons of editing. It's why I never take promotional images seriously.