A master piece born from a disaster

In 1966, a tragedy happened. An unprecedented flood ravaged Venice and destroyed the Fucina degli Angeli.

Most works, drawings and documents were destroyed.

Trying to save what remains of the archives, the master of glass found, in the mud, the drawings of the chessboard, miraculously rescued from the water.

At the deepest despair, the Venetian artisans decided to react.
He remembered the challenge of Max Ernst and said that the realisation of such a work could save his workshops.

He spoke to Max Ernst who, to support the Fucina degli Angeli, agreed to give him the ownership of the chessboard against the prototypes of each piece under condition that the Fucina finances its production.

Admiring the courage of the Venetian, a great solidarity movement created spontaneously around Peggy Guggenheim.

Many artists, including Max Ernst himself, helped by giving new designs to finance the project.

Finally, craftsmen, who had refused their collaboration before the flood, supported him to realise this challenge, some even offering to work free of charge.

Thus, it took the disaster of Venice to bring together the energies able of fulfilling the mad dream of Max Ernst.