“Another Bugatti” and his animals (35 photos)

"Another Bugatti" For a long time, the thin boy with sparkling eyes was called that way, because Rembrandt was just the younger brother of the brilliant engineer Ettore Bugatti, who designed cars.





But then everything changed. Born in Milan in 1884, Rembrandt's talent first became evident in the string of cows he sculpted at the age of 15 from a lump of clay discovered in his father's workshop. Carlo, Rembrandt's father, designed furniture, interiors and art and was such an erudite esthete that his friends nicknamed him Leonardo. Perhaps it was his own nickname that inspired him to choose an equally bold name for his third child.



Rembrandt Bugatti

Relationships with people were difficult for the shy teenager, but when he moved from Milan to Paris in 1903, he spent hours watching baboons, giraffes and panthers at the Jardin des Plantes zoo. What inspired him to further his work was the creation of bronze sculptures on the theme of wildlife.





After graduating from the Milan Academy of Art, he began creating sculptures and developed his own unique style. He experimented a little with images of people, but compared to animals they came out somehow blurry and dull.

In 1904, Rembrandt moved to Antwerp (Belgium), where he created his best masterpieces - sculptures of numerous exotic animals. When World War I began, all the animals in the Royal Zoological Garden in Antwerp - at that time the largest zoo in Europe, which he recreated in bronze with such awe and delight, were destroyed due to lack of food. This really upset Rembrandt.



Legendary symbol

He went to work at a local hospital, where he contracted tuberculosis, which was incurable at that time. In 1916, unable to withstand the trials of life, Rembrandt Bugatti committed suicide. In memory of him, Ettore made a sculpture of a dancing elephant one of the symbols of his brand.