Rembrandt Bugatti

Émile Chouanard, France 
Private Collection, Florida
Private Collection, Paris
Acquired from the above

Art et décoration, Paris, 1913, illustration of the plaster n.p. 
Philippe Dejean, Carlo-Rembrandt-Ettore-Jean Bugatti, Paris, 1981, illustration of another cast p. 348
Jacques Chalom Des Cordes & Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti, Paris, 1987, illustration of another cast pp. 64-65
Véronique Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti, sculpteur: répertoire monographique: une trajectoire foudroyante, Paris, 2009, no. 88, illustration of another cast p. 267

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Raised in a family of successful artists—Bugatti’s father Carlo was known for his exotic and fanciful furniture, metalwork and musical instruments, whilst his brother Ettore made the name Bugatti synonymous with beautifully designed automobiles—Rembrandt Bugatti was almost unique among modern sculptors in focusing on depictions of exotic animals. Spending many of his days at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and, later, the Jardin Zoologique in Antwerp, Bugatti worked from life, observing his animal subjects for hours and often days at a time, familiarizing himself with their individual identities and the nuances of their movements. He would then spring to action, quickly modelling in clay in order to capture a particular subtlety of stance. It is this technique that gives Bugatti’s sculptures their dynamic naturalism; his work is not merely anatomically accurate, but also possesses a psychological depth. As Edward Horswell describes: “His mastery in modelling (and the reason he continues to command attention and admiration nearly a century after his death) lies in his magical touch as a sculptor, lending his work an observational acuity and, most remarkably, a psychological depth. Bugatti was not an ‘animal sculptor’ but a sculptor per se. Uniquely, his sculptures of animals are true portraits, each of an individual character” (Edward Horswell, Rembrandt Bugatti, Life in Sculpture, London, 2004, pp. 61-64).