A rare drawing of a lioness by 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn is headed to the auction block, with a profound mission behind its sale. All proceeds — an estimated $20 million — will benefit global wild cat conservation group Panthera.
“Young Lion Resting” will be auctioned Wednesday at Sotheby’s New York, timed to the 20th anniversary of the nonprofit, which was co-founded by Thomas Kaplan, a billionaire art collector, philanthropist, and current co-owner of the drawing. Circa 1638-1642, the piece is one of three Rembrandt drawings created of the same lioness, using black and white chalk and a gray wash; the other two are held in the British Museum.
But beginning today, visitors to Sotheby’s can view another, more symbolic piece of art: a replica of the drawing with its subject missing.
Titled “Young Lion Vanished,” the accompanying piece represents the dire conservation crisis the big cats are facing — and what will happen if collective action isn’t taken to save the species. Lion populations have plummeted by nearly 90% in the last century, from nearly 200,000 individuals to just over 20,000 today, per Panthera.
“‘Young Lion Resting’ reminds us what it looks, and feels, like when a species still belongs to the world of the living,” Kaplan told Nice News. “‘Young Lion Vanished’ asks the harder question — what happens when it no longer does? And yet this is not a mere rhetorical question, with the lion having disappeared from 26 of the 48 countries in which they once roamed free. Art has always been a mirror. In this particular moment, it’s also a warning.”
Through efforts across 39 countries, Panthera helps protect the world’s 40 wild cat species and their ecosystems. A team of biologists, law enforcement agents, data scientists, and other experts work together to study and safeguard the seven big cat species: lions, tigers, leopards, snow leopards, pumas, jaguars, and cheetahs. Its small cats program leads conservation initiatives for the most threatened and often overlooked smaller species, like southern Africa’s diminutive black-footed cat and the Eurasian lynx.
“I am blessed to have multiple passions, most of them — Rembrandt included — deriving from youthful influences. But one surpasses all others,” said Kaplan. “Wild cat conservation became my greatest passion because wild cats are the ultimate truth-tellers of the natural world. Where they survive, ecosystems are still functioning. Where they are disappearing, something fundamental has already gone wrong.”
Kaplan and his wife, Daphne Recanati Kaplan, co-founded The Leiden Collection, which comprises around 220 works — including “Young Lion Resting” — and is named after Rembrandt’s hometown in the Netherlands. The couple co-own the drawing with philanthropist Jon Ayers, who serves on the board of Panthera.
“Future generations don’t need another lion preserved on paper. They need lions alive in the wild,” said Kaplan. “If this work can help secure that future, then parting with it constitutes for us and our children the ultimate affirmation of the values of stewardship and conservation that we hold so dear and try to live by.”
RELATED: A First Edition of “Emma” Heading to Auction During Jane Austen’s 250th Birthday Week
Share to:
