A rare selection of his family groups and other unexpected firendships.

There will be a loan exhibition of Rembrandt Bugatti bronzes at The Sladmore Gallery. It will be the first show to concentrate on those of his sculptures that depict pairings or family groups including rare works such as: Rooster and Frog, and Young Lion Cub with a Greyhound Foster Mother.

All these works have been chosen to illustrate the sculptor's unique ability to capture the attitudes and emotion of his subjects and demonstrate the wonderful empathy he had for all creatures. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with an introduction by William Packer. It will also include a specially commissioned essay on this aspect of Bugatti's work by Rungwe Kingdon, founder of Pangolin Art Foundry and Gallery. Rungwe, who grew up in Africa, is the son of distinguished zoologist Jonathan Kingdon.

This background, together with his knowledge of sculpture, has given him special insight into Bugatti’s working methods. Rembrandt Bugatti, revered by his successors, valued more than ever before by the art world, understood and loved animals as individual beings.They became his friends, while he closely observed their reactions and relationships in his everyday life around himas well as in the Antwerp Zoological Gardens (his open air studio) and the Paris Jardin des Plantes.

Rembrandt Bugatti was born and educated in Milan. His older brother Ettore, ‘the other Bugatti’ was the creator of those immortal automobiles. The Sladmore Gallery was founded by Edward Horswell’s father in 1965, a natural extension to his private menagerie at home. Bugatti has always been one of the most important artists on display at The Sladmore, alongside Rodin, Degas and Maillol. In 2004 Edward Horswell wrote the first comprehensive monograph in English on the work of Bugatti, a work of scholarship and devotion. He describes how the art of Bugatti ‘combined huge technical finesse, formal beauty, intensity of expression and subtle stylistic inventiveness.’ Bugatti sculptures are represented at public museums worldwide, the Musee d’Orsay in Paris has an especially comprehensive collection, and his work is cherished by a long list of private collectors.