Rembrandt Bugatti "Panthere Marchant Patte Arriere Levee" Bronze Sculpture
This finely cast bronze of Panthère marchant patte arrière levée (1904) exemplifies Rembrandt Bugatti’s extraordinary sensitivity to the big cats he observed daily at the Jardin des Plantes. Produced by the Hébrard foundry in over fifty editions, the sculpture distills the panther’s coiled strength and fluid motion into a compact, impressionistic form—every detail from the slight tilt of the head to the lifted hind paw animated with lived observation. Evoking the same intense presence that inspired Rilke’s poem, The Panther, Bugatti captures an animal suspended between power, vigilance, and modern expressive force.
Item #: YB-22068
Artist: Rembrandt Bugatti
Country: France
Circa: 1904
Dimensions: 8.25" height, 20.75" width, 4.5" depth.
Materials: Patinated Bronze
Signed: RBugatti, impressed CIRE/PERDUE/A. A. HEBRARD and (B2)
Literature: P. Dejean, Carlo-Rembrandt-Ettore-Jean Bugatti, Paris, 1981, p. 160 (another cast illustrated).
J.-C. des Cordes and V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti: Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1987, pp. 246-247 (another cast illustrated; titled Lionne d'Afrique).
E. Horswell, Rembrandt Bugatti: Life in Sculpture, London, 2004, pp. 13 and 181 (detail of another cast illustrated in color, p. 12; other casts illustrated in color, pp. 182-183).
V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur: Répertoire monographique, Paris, 2009, pp. 309-310, no. 232 (another cast illustrated, pp. 175 and 309).
V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur: Répertoire monographique, Paris, 2016, p. 343, no. 236 (another cast illustrated in color).
Item #: YB-22068
Artist: Rembrandt Bugatti
Country: France
Circa: 1904
Dimensions: 8.25" height, 20.75" width, 4.5" depth.
Materials: Patinated Bronze
Signed: RBugatti, impressed CIRE/PERDUE/A. A. HEBRARD and (B2)
Literature: P. Dejean, Carlo-Rembrandt-Ettore-Jean Bugatti, Paris, 1981, p. 160 (another cast illustrated).
J.-C. des Cordes and V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti: Catalogue raisonné, Paris, 1987, pp. 246-247 (another cast illustrated; titled Lionne d'Afrique).
E. Horswell, Rembrandt Bugatti: Life in Sculpture, London, 2004, pp. 13 and 181 (detail of another cast illustrated in color, p. 12; other casts illustrated in color, pp. 182-183).
V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur: Répertoire monographique, Paris, 2009, pp. 309-310, no. 232 (another cast illustrated, pp. 175 and 309).
V. Fromanger, Rembrandt Bugatti sculpteur: Répertoire monographique, Paris, 2016, p. 343, no. 236 (another cast illustrated in color).
Bugatti’s panther was based on a poem Rainier Maria Rilke composed for Auguste Rodin. The poem goes as follows “Her vision from the constantly passing bars has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to her there are a thousand bars; behind the bars, no world. As she paces in cramped circles, over and over. the movement of her powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a centre in which a mighty will stands paralysed. Only at times, the curtain of the pupils lifts, quietly. An image enters in, rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone.
Bugatti’s panther was based on a poem Rainier Maria Rilke composed for Auguste Rodin. The poem goes as follows “Her vision from the constantly passing bars has grown so weary that it cannot hold anything else. It seems to her there are a thousand bars; behind the bars, no world. As she paces in cramped circles, over and over. the movement of her powerful soft strides is like a ritual dance around a centre in which a mighty will stands paralysed. Only at times, the curtain of the pupils lifts, quietly. An image enters in, rushes down through the tensed, arrested muscles, plunges into the heart and is gone.
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