Rembrandt Bugatti’s brief but extraordinary career produced some of the most sensitive and expressive animal sculptures of the early 20th century. Born in Milan in 1884 into a family of artists–his father Carlo was a renowned designer and his brother Ettore the famed car pioneer–Bugatti developed a singular voice in bronze. Profoundly attuned to the animal world, he worked en plein air at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and later at the Antwerp Zoo, sketching and sculpting directly from observation.

Deux biches caressant au faon, conceived circa 1904 and cast in 1905, is among the artist’s most poignant explorations of maternal tenderness in the animal kingdom. The composition portrays two does gently nuzzling a fawn, capturing a quiet moment of natural intimacy. The bronze's surface bears Bugatti’s signature tactile modelling: expressive, fluid and alive with gesture. The trio stand on a roughly textured bronze base, reinforcing the naturalism and immediacy of the encounter. Bugatti's ability to translate the psychological depth and emotional nuance of his subjects into bronze is fully realised here, rendered with tactile sensitivity and anatomical precision.

This work holds particular significance not only for its lyrical subject and refined execution, but also for its rarity and provenance. Cast using the lost-wax (cire perdue) method by Albino Palazzolo—a process that allowed for highly detailed, one-off bronze casts—it is the only known cast of this specific model, setting it apart from Bugatti’s limited-edition works later produced by the Hébrard foundry, which were issued in editions (often of three to ten). The fact that Bugatti personally inscribed the bronze, dedicating it to its caster, A l’amico Albino (to my friend Albino), makes it even more unique and suggests that the relationship between Bugatti and Palazzolo extended beyond the professional. Its early date and handwritten dedication indicate it was intended as a personal gift or private commission. The sculpture is further distinguished by its superb provenance: retained by the artist’s brother, Ettore Bugatti, following Rembrandt’s untimely death in 1916, the work remained in the Bugatti family for decades before being acquired by the present owner in 1984.

Deux biches caressant au faon stands as a masterpiece of early twentieth-century sculpture and offers collectors a rare opportunity to acquire a poetic work by one of the greatest animaliers of his time.