Loading
Standing naked Colossus, copy
Rembrandt Bugatti1989 - 1992
The Olympic Museum
Lausanne, Switzerland
Full-length portrait of a standing and muscled athlete.
According to the family, the colossus could be the portrait of an Italian Olympic champion, but there is no evidence of that. The sculpture could also represent the American gymnastics champion, Samuel Stockton White III, the same athlete of whom Rodin produced a sculpture.
Show lessRead more
Details
- Title: Standing naked Colossus, copy
- Creator Lifespan: 16 October 1884 - 8 January 1916
- Creator Nationality: Italian
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Birth Place: Milan, Italy
- Date Created: 1989 - 1992
- Location Created: France
- Sculptor: Rembrandt Bugatti
- Physical Dimensions: w1130 x h2780 x d990 cm (Complete)
- Description: Copy: 2/8 (the Bugatti Conservatory mentions three known copies). Signed on the base. Big seal in cast-iron "Cire perdue C Valsuani Paris".
- Collection information: Bugatti created the original plaster version of “The Brute” in 1907, and presented it in 1911 at the Fine Arts National Society in Paris where its non-conformism was considered too scandalous. The sculpture was renamed “The Colossus” when it was cast in a numbered edition by a Parisian foundry in 1989. One sculpture of this edition was acquired by The Olympic Museum in 1997.
- Artistic school or movement: Rembrandt Annibale Bugatti was an Italian wildlife sculptor. His brother was Ettore Bugatti, the creator of the famous cars, and his father was an avant-garde decorator and furniture-maker. Besides his ambitious first name chosen by his uncle, the painter Giovanni Segantini, he grew up in a very artistic environment and met many artists including Paolo Troubetzkoy, who encouraged him to pursue an artistic career. He created his first sculpture “Ritorno dal pascolo” at the age of 14, when he spent his holidays in the Maloja valley in the Engadin Mountains. He settled down in Paris in 1903 and managed to sign an exclusivity agreement with the Hébrard foundry to cast his production in bronze. He spent all his time in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris where he could observe the animals living there. From 1907 to 1915, the artist was invited by the Antwerp Zoo, one of the biggest of the time, to stay there, where he could study and sculpt the most exotic animals. He loved the animals’ company so much that he was allowed to feed and take care of them. The artist unfortunately not bear the war and committed suicide in 1916. Bugatti was a great supporter of the revival of the Olympic Games and should have taken part in the art competition in Stockholm in 1912. His name did not appear in the Official Report but in the handwritten register of participants.
- Type: Sculpture
- Rights: Public domain, ©CIO_Ester-Franco-Varon
- Medium: Bronze sculpture
Additional Items
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
