Rembrandt Bugatti was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

, known primarily for his bronze sculptures of wildlife subjects.

Early life

Born in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

, into a notably artistic family, Rembrandt Bugatti was the second son of Carlo Bugatti (1856-1940) and his wife, Teresa Lorioli. His older brother was Ettore Bugatti

Ettore Bugatti

right|thumb|Ettore Bugatti in 1932Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti was an Italian-born and French naturalized citizen automobile designer and manufacturer....

 who became one of the world's most famous automobile manufacturers.

He was given his first name by his uncle, the painter Giovanni Segantini

Giovanni Segantini

Giovanni Segantini was an Italian painter known for his large pastoral landscapes of the Alps. He was one of the most famous artists in Europe in the late 19th century, and his paintings were collected by major museums. In later life he combined a Divisionist painting style with Symbolist images...

. His father was a successful and important Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...

 furniture and jewelry designer who also worked in textiles, ceramics, and silver metalware. As such, Rembrandt Bugatti grew up in an environment where a great many of his parent's friends were from the artistic world. In 1902, the family moved to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where they lived in a community of artisan

Artisan

An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...

s.

As a child he hung around his father's workshop and was encouraged to try sculpting in plasticine

Plasticine

Plasticine, a brand of modelling clay, is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. The name is a registered trademark of Flair Leisure Products plc...

  by the family friend and renowned Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n sculptor, Prince Paolo Troubetzkoy

Paolo Troubetzkoy

Prince Paolo or Paul Troubetzkoy was an artist and a sculptor, of Russia's Troubetzkoy princely family, who was described by G.B. Shaw as "the most astonishing sculptor of modern times".-Life:He worked in Russia, America, England and Italy...

 (1866-1938).

Work

Rembrandt Bugatti was a young man when he began to work with the art foundry and gallery owner, Adrian Hébrard. He produced a number of bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

s which were successfully exhibited and promoted by Hébrard. Bugatti's love of nature led to him spending a great deal of time in the wildlife sanctuary near the Jardin des Plantes

Jardin des Plantes

The Jardin des Plantes is the main botanical garden in France. It is one of seven departments of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle. It is situated in the 5ème arrondissement, Paris, on the left bank of the river Seine and covers 28 hectares .- Garden plan :The grounds of the Jardin des...

 in Paris or at the Antwerp Zoo

Antwerp Zoo

Antwerp Zoo is a zoo in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, located right next to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station. It is the oldest animal park in the country, and one of the oldest in the world, established on 21 July 1843.- History :...

 where he studied the features and movement of exotic animals. His sculptures of animals such as elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...

s, panthers

Panthera

Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...

 and lion

Lion

The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

s became his most valuable and popular works.

The silver elephant mascot that sits on top of the radiator of the Bugatti

Bugatti

Automobiles E. Bugatti was a French car manufacturer founded in 1909 in Molsheim, Alsace, as a manufacturer of high-performance automobiles by Italian-born Ettore Bugatti....

 Royale

Bugatti Royale

The Bugatti Type 41, better known as the Royale, was a large luxury car with a 4.3 m wheelbase and 6.4 m overall length. It weighed approximately 3175 kg and used a 12.7 L straight-8 engine...

 was cast from one of Rembrandt's original sculptures.

His art works are now also highly priced. A cast of his 1909-1910 bronze, Babouin Sacré Hamadryas (Sacred Hamadryas Baboon

Hamadryas Baboon

The Hamadryas baboon is a species of baboon from the Old World monkey family. It is the northernmost of all the baboons; being native to the Horn of Africa and the southwestern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. These regions provide habitats with the advantage for this species of fewer natural...

), was auctioned at Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 in 2006 for $2.56 million. In May, 2010, the Babouin reappeared at auction at Sotheby's (est. $2/3 million), along with a male and female Lion and Lionne de Nubie (est. $1.5/2 million and $1.2/1.8 million, respectively), a Grande girafe tête basse (est. $1/1.5 million) and seven other pieces from the S. Joel Schur Collection, perhaps the finest collection of masterpieces by Bugatti in private hands according to one report. One of the Bugatti pieces was reported sold apparently as part of a group of sculptures (with three Rodin

Auguste Rodin

François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...

 and a Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi

was a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...

) for an aggregate of $20 million.

World War I,Suicide

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the Antwerp Zoo

Antwerp Zoo

Antwerp Zoo is a zoo in the centre of Antwerp, Belgium, located right next to the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station. It is the oldest animal park in the country, and one of the oldest in the world, established on 21 July 1843.- History :...

 was forced to kill most of its wild livestock. This deeply affected Bugatti because he had used many of these animals as objects for his sculpture. In 1916, at the age of 31, he killed himself. He is interred in the Bugatti family plot at the municipal cemetery in Dorlisheim

Dorlisheim

Dorlisheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.-Economy:The headquarters of Bugatti Automobiles is located at the Chateau Saint Jean just outside of Dorlishheim.-References:*...

 in the Bas-Rhin

Bas-Rhin

Bas-Rhin is a department of France. The name means "Lower Rhine". It is the more populous and densely populated of the two departments of the Alsace region, with 1,079,013 inhabitants in 2006.- History :...

 département of the Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

 region of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

External links

• Biography on the National Museum of Wildlife Art
• http://www.musee-orsay.fr/fr/collections/catalogue-des-oeuvres/

Synopsis "Rembrandt Bugatti Sculpteur"-Expositions-Musée Virtuel-Lectures-Conférence "Cleveland 1999":

• http://www.rembrandtbugatti.info/