Born into an artistic Italian family, Rembrandt Bugatti was already an accomplished animal sculptor when he moved to Paris at 18, and like Henry Merwin Shrady used zoo animals as his models. A. A. Hébrard, an art dealer and promoter, launched a foundry in 1902 in Paris staffed with Italian craftsmen including the Valsuani family. He introduced the idea of limited edition sculpture; generally between 3 and 20 bronzes were cast in a series. In 1904 Hébrard opened his new gallery with bronze sculpture by Rembrandt Bugatti. Caught in Hébrard’s web as a minor bound by an exclusive contract signed by his father, Bugatti‘s later success benefited only Hébrard who refused to renegotiate the contract for the rights of reproduction. Bugatti’s Italian connections initially brought craftsmen, like Vasuani, to Hébrard’s foundry, but he later encouraged Valsuani to leave Hébrard to open his own foundry. Financial difficulties likely contributed to the artist’s suicide at age 31.

From the exhibition:Frontier to Foundry: the Making of Small Bronze Sculpture in the Gilcrease Collection, December 2014 - March 2015.
Ann Boulton Young, Associate Conservator for the Gilcrease Museum, 2014.