Ernst dares glass

Many believe that Peggy Guggenheim, the first wife of Max Ernst, was at the initiative of his work on glass.
Indeed, Jean Arp, via a letter from his wife Marguerite, countersigned with humour ""the great artist Jean Arp"", will encourage Max Ernst to begin its work with Venetian workshops.

Max Ernst met Costantini in 1962. Birds were main subjects of his early works.
The perfectionism of Max Ernst made collaboration extremely demanding, the German giant understood immediately the potential of glass.

After few months of collaboration, in February 1963, during one of his visits to the Fucina degli Angeli, Max Ernst presented to Costantini its wooden chess board and a series of pieces drawings specifying the dimensions he wanted. Seeing dimensions, the Venetian was amazed: the chessboard that the German artist commissioned is a monumental work of five meters aside!

First enthusiastic, Costantini is conducting feasibility study.
Some parts would weight tens of kilograms; require special ovens and not less than ten craftsmen to handle.
Never such performance had even been imagined with glass material.

For example, pieces polishing, with oblique faces of kings and queens heads, would impose several months of work of a specialised craftsman.

In all, thirty-two pieces of the chessboard, not counting the development of prototypes, would have imposed more than six months of work to a team of elite craftsmen, ranging between four and ten people, depending on the type of operation.

In financial terms, the budget was so high that Max Ernst gave up providing funds.

Ultimate stumbling block, the danger of handling such molten masses worried all the craftsmen who desisted one after another.

Also, death in the soul, the Venetian master craftsman must decline this project.