This sculpture is a work by Auguste Trémont, the most important animal sculptor in the history of Luxembourg art. Born in Luxembourg in 1892, he studied at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Luxembourg and later at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He exhibited in Paris at the Salon de la Nationale des Beaux-Arts, at the Salon des Artistes Français, at the Salon d’Automne and the Salon des Tuileries.

It was in the French capital at the Jardin des Plantes that he discovered his true passion for representing animals. He created his first sculptures in 1924. In 1927 he was one of the founders of the Luxembourg Salon de la Sécession, for reasons of personal friendship rather than out of aesthetic considerations.

In 1929 he presented two works at the Salon de la Sécession, one of them being this bronze entitled Couple of walking Bengal tigers. In this work, Trémont analyses feline movement, as he also did in his 1927 work Tigre.

Bequeathed to the museum in 1982 by Mr Léon Schaus, our Bengal tigers, seen in profile, testify to the artist’s great mastery in reproducing the morphology and movement of big cats in a style that places him between Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875) and François Pompon (1855-1933).

Georges Schmitt, former curator of the museum, writes in his book on Auguste Trémont: “But what is expressed here is also a feeling. Indeed, the couple are advancing side by side in long parallel strides, the male slightly ahead of the female. The latter, leaning slightly over her right shoulder, touches the side of the male. She lifts her head as if to affectionately lay it on his back and thus slow his walk while he strides on: he remains impassive, head down, mouth open, chops rolled back, baring his formidable teeth.” (Georges Schmitt, Trémont, Luxembourg, Section des Arts et des Lettres de l’Institut Grand-Ducal, 1975, p. 28.).