Billionaire art collector and precious metals mogul Thomas S. Kaplan is parting with one of his prized Rembrandt drawings, a rare lion study expected to fetch up to $20 million at auction. The work, titled "Young Lion Resting" and dating from around 1638-42, will be offered by Sotheby's in New York this February, with all proceeds going to Panthera, the wild cat conservation charity Kaplan founded in 2006. Despite the high-profile sale, Kaplan remained tight-lipped about his recently revealed plans to fractionalize his renowned Rembrandt collection.
Sotheby's hosted an exclusive lunch for Kaplan at its Paris headquarters last week, unveiling the coveted drawing to approximately 20 journalists and art experts. The American-French collector, whose fortune was estimated at $1 billion by Forbes in 2017, has spent the last two decades building what's known as the Leiden Collection alongside his wife, Daphne. This extraordinary assemblage of 220 works represents the world's largest private collection of Rembrandt paintings, containing 17 works by the Dutch master – just five fewer than Amsterdam's prestigious Rijksmuseum. The collection also boasts the only Vermeer painting in private hands.
"Young Lion Resting" carries a high estimate of $20 million, which would far exceed the current auction record for a Rembrandt drawing of $3.7 million, set by "Windmill de Smeerpot, Amsterdam" from around 1649-52. However, the estimate falls short of the overall record for works on paper, which stands at $48 million for Raphael's "Head of Apostle" from around 1519. For context, the highest price ever paid for any Rembrandt work was $33.2 million when Sotheby's sold his "Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo" from 1658 back in 2009.
Kaplan credits his wife with encouraging the 2005 purchase of the lion drawing from John and Paul Herring's New York gallery. According to Kaplan, Daphne told him at the time: "Tom, it's a Rembrandt. It's a lion, and it's beautiful. If it's not for you, then who is it for?" The work, beautifully executed in black and white chalk on brown paper, is believed to be the last of six lion drawings Rembrandt created. Kaplan expressed hope that his philanthropic mission for wild cat conservation would help drive bidding interest in the piece.
During the Paris presentation, Gregory Rubinstein, Sotheby's head of Old Master drawings, praised the work's significance. "Rembrandt's lion drawing brings together two very different strands of his genius: his extraordinary gift for the observation of nature, and his unrivaled ability to see to the very heart and the soul of his subjects," Rubinstein explained. He added that the drawing, "drawn from life with extraordinary energy and movement," represents "one of the most significant Old Master drawings to appear at auction in decades."
Kaplan, dressed in a blue three-piece suit for the occasion, deliberately steered conversations away from his recently announced plans to fractionalize his Rembrandt collection through a project called "Project Minerva." When pressed about the initiative, he politely deflected, saying, "Today I'd like to focus on the lion and wild cat conservation. I'm more than happy to talk about fractionalization at a later date." This reticence comes despite growing interest in his plans to potentially sell shares in his collection.
The Kaplan family's approach to collecting has been notably private and philanthropic. "We don't live with any of our Rembrandts because we're not interested in material things, nor the social side of collecting," Kaplan explained during his presentation. For years, the couple remained anonymous while aggressively lending works from their collection – 80 pieces and counting – to major institutions including St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum, the National Museum of China, and the Louvre.
The decision to step into the public eye came after encouragement from Arthur Wheelock, the National Gallery of Art's curator of Northern Baroque painting, who urged Kaplan to take the collection public. "I was crossing the Rubicon, because every time I put myself out there in the public, I know that the Kaplans become the story very quickly," Kaplan reflected. He emphasized that going public wasn't about self-promotion but rather an effort to highlight "Rembrandt's enduring human and artistic values." As he put it, "It doesn't take a genius to buy Rembrandt. It takes a genius to be Rembrandt. It's not about the collector, it's about the artist."
Regarding Project Minerva, Kaplan remained cautious during a one-on-one conversation, stating he was only interested in proceeding "in a way that truly democratized the collection and gave it the most exposure." He noted there were "easier ways to make money from the works" but insisted on doing it right or not at all. Kaplan indicated there was an 18-month timeframe for a possible launch, though he provided no concrete details about the fractionalization plans. His measured approach reflects his stated philosophy: "If I can't do it right, I won't do it at all."
