Rembrandt Bugatti
Rembrandt Bugatti
French Bulldog (Bouledogue Français)
Around 1905
Bronze on wooden base (2,2 x 15,7 x 10,5 cm). Height 13.2 cm. Signed 'R Bugatti' (ligatured) on the front of the plinth and the dedication 'A madame Valsuani-Panni' on the side. On the left of the plinth the foundry stamp "CIRE PERDUE AA HEBRARD". One of 50 copies. - With beautiful brownish patina. In very good condition.
Des Cordes/Fromanger-Des Cordes 107
Provenance
Private collection Belgium
Literature
Cf. Rembrandt Bugatti. Felines and Figures. An Exhibition of Bronze Sculpture, London 1993, no. 6; Edward Horswell, Rembrandt Bugatti. Life in Sculpture, London 2004, p. 84; Rembrandt Bugatti. The Sculptor 1884-1916, exh. Cat. Nationalgalerie Berlin, Munich 2014, pp. 70-71.
Rembrandt Bugatti, the younger brother of the famous automobile designer and bon vivant Ettore Bugatti, was born in Milan in 1884 into a family of designers and painters that was as artistic as it was unconventional. Like his grandfather, Bugatti trained as a sculptor and went to Paris, the art metropolis of the time. But unlike the avant-garde artists Picasso and Modigliani, who were around the same age, he left the studio and worked in the zoo instead, initially in Paris and later in Antwerp, the most important zoo at the time. The successfully exhibited "Rearing Elephant" (1903) marked his path to becoming an animal sculptor. His early developed style with light-breaking, impressionistic surfaces and the congenial collaboration with the gallery owner and best bronze caster Adrien-Aurélien Hebrard made him the internationally leading animal sculptor around 1905.
With the "French Bulldog" Bugatti portrayed the dog of his mother Teresa Lorioli. In his waiting posture, with collar and loyal gaze, he interpreted the bulldog as a domestic dog turned toward man. With his ears erect, he seems to listen to his mistress. After Bugatti designed the bulldog as a plaster model measuring 29 centimeters, Hebrard had a limited edition of 50 copies of the model cast for his best customers. While one of these copies was already acquired by Hugo von Tschudi for the National Gallery in 1906, another fully signed version dedicated to Madame Valsuani, the mother of a foundry friend, is offered here.
