Rembrandt Bugatti

Italian sculptor whose 1904 rearing elephant was later cast in silver as the radiator mascot of the Type 41 Royale, a posthumous homage by Ettore and Jean Bugatti.

Born in Milan in 1884, Rembrandt Bugatti was the younger son of the furniture designer Carlo Bugatti and the younger brother of Ettore. His father had initially intended an engineering future for him, but Rembrandt began sculpting early. In Paris he worked with the gallerist and bronzecaster Adrien-Aurélien Hébrard, whose gallery gave him a first exhibition in 1904 and an exclusive contract.

Bugatti observed animals at the Jardin des Plantes and Antwerp Zoo, modelling directly from life in plasticine. In 1907 the Royal Zoological Gardens in Antwerp invited him to work there, and he spent extended periods in the city. He exhibited annually at Galerie Hébrard until 1913. The Alte Nationalgalerie describes an oeuvre of more than 300 works.

World War I collapsed the art market and transformed Antwerp Zoo, where many animals were put down because food was scarce. Bugatti volunteered as a Red Cross stretcher bearer and contracted tuberculosis at Antwerp’s military hospital. He killed himself by gas in his Montparnasse studio in January 1916, aged 31.

Rembrandt Bugatti died a decade before the Type 41 Royale prototype of 1926. Its radiator ornament was based on his 1904 rearing elephant, Le petit éléphant dressé. Christie’s records Ettore and Jean Bugatti choosing the model as a posthumous tribute and having a silver version cast by Valsuani. Six Royales were built; the Henry Ford Museum likewise identifies the mascot as a tribute to Rembrandt’s memory.