Rembrandt Bugatti was born in Milan on 16 October 1884. His father Carlo was a renowned architect and furniture designer, and his brother Ettore was the creator of the sumptuous Bugatti automobiles. By the age of 16, Rembrandt Bugatti was already an accomplished sculptor. He had already found his style and his preferred subject: animals. In 1902, he chose to live close by the Jardin des Plantes, the Botanical Gardens, in Paris, where he would go frequently to study and paint the animals. During this period he got to know the sculptor and artistic metal founder Adrien Aurelien Hébrard. The year 1907 marked a turning point in his life. The Royal Society of Zoology, based in Antwerp, Belgium, invited him to take up residence there. He was able to work freely in the zoo, exhibit there and sell his work. He returned to Paris during the First World War. Traumatized by the horrors of war, he was inspired to create one of his last works : a life-sized figure of Christ on the cross. On 8 January 1916, Rembrandt decided to end his life.