Shroud of Turin and the Resurrection of Jesus : Some Say

Some Say the Image on the Shroud of Turin is Leonardo da Vinci

This page is best understood by first reading the page about Understanding the nature of the Shroud of Turin's images.

Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince, in their book Turin Shroud: In Whose Image (Harper Collins, NY, 1994) suggest that the Shroud is an early example of photography showing the portrait of its creator, Leonardo da Vinci. According to this speculative theory, the image was made using a magic lantern, a simple projector, and light-sensitive chromium salts in an egg white medium.

Because Leonardo (1452-1519) was born almost a full century after a documented appearance of the Shroud in western Europe, the authors propose that the original cloth was a poor fake and Leonardo superior a superior hoax version. It should be noted that there are no historical reports of a sudden change in the appearance of the image on the Shroud.

Their argument is based on little more than that . . .

da Vinci was a capable genius who understood the camera obscura (pin hole camera)
he understood something of the chemistry knowledge of his era
he was highly motivated to fool the church
the image on the Shroud has many facial characteristics similar to those on the Shroud
a sense that the picture could only have been made with a lens

The late Dr. Alan D. Adler, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Western Connecticut University, in an article,, “The Nature of the Body Images on the Shroud of Turin,” comments:

In “Turin Shroud”, Picknett and Prince, assign the image on the Shroud to Leonardo. They propose a photochemical mechanism with sunlight reflected from a statue via optics to image on sheet of cloth charged with a mixture of egg white and chromium salts. As this is an albedo image, it will fail a VP-8 test and there is no chemical or spectroscopic evidence for their chemical sensitizers. They do not deal with the blood image problem. Leonardo may rest easily in his grave.

Adler's reference to "VP-8 correctly" refers to the ability to plot the relative lighter and darker areas seen in the images and produce a three-dimensional isometric drawing of the body.

The Leonardo speculation is moot because 1) the Shroud of Turin is from much earlier that Leonardo's time; 2) the image proposed will not produce a 3D image, 3) is based on presence of a chemical substance, a photographic emulsion, that is simply not found on the Shroud.