Billionaire U.S. entrepreneur and philanthropist Thomas Kaplan has two great passions: Rembrandt's art and big cats. He collects the former through his Leiden Collection in New York — named after Rembrandt’s birthplace — and is deeply committed to protecting the latter. As reported by The Art Newspaper, an extraordinary event is expected next year that brings both passions together: Kaplan is prepared to part with one of his treasured artworks in support of species conservation.
See also: Rembrandt: Painter of the Soul
The chosen work couldn’t be more fitting — a drawing by Rembrandt of a young lion at rest, created between 1638 and 1642. The piece is currently on display in the exhibition From Rembrandt to Vermeer: Masterpieces of the Leiden Collection, on view at the H'ART Museum in Amsterdam until 24 August 2025.
Young Lion at Rest is not Rembrandt’s only work on the subject. Similar lion studies can be found in the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
See also: The Power of Prints: Discover Rembrandt's Etchings
As Kaplan told The Art Newspaper, he hopes the drawing will raise tens of millions of U.S. dollars to support the protection of big cats. If successful, the sale could even break auction records — both for a work on paper and for a work by Rembrandt himself.
The current auction record for a drawing was set in 2012, when Raphael’s Head of a Young Apostle sold at Christie’s for £29.7 million (approx. $47.6 million). The most expensive Rembrandt at auction to date is Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo, which sold at Christie’s London in 2009 for £20.2 million (approx. $33.2 million).
