This law of optics and the principle of the camera obscurer had both been understood since the 5th century A.D. Some enthusiasts think that Leonardo could have applied the law as no-one had previously, and created the ghostly image on the Shroud. If it is Leonardo’s handiwork, its power to transfix seems just as strong as if it were genuinely the result of Christ’s resurrection. Decoding the Past: Unravelling the Shroud, Channel 5 2009
Some proportions of the Shroud image are anatomically incorrect ... The forehead of the Shroud figure is too short, the face too narrow, the arms extend further down than is humanly possible: is this proof that the Shroud figure is something other than the image of Jesus or any other person, or is there yet another explanation to make sense of the flawed proportions? ibid.
Crucifixion was a gruesome, drawn out and painful death reserved for criminals and the lowest rung of Roman society. It’s difficult to get scientific data on Crucifixion because the last official Roman crucifixion happened in the year 337. Turin Shroud: The New Evidence, History 2009
The Roman practice of nailing the victim’s palms to the cross would have ruptured the media nerve turning the thumbs inwards. A careful examination of the Shroud revealed exactly this. The thumbs were hidden under the palms. Just as one would expect in a crucifixion. ibid.
The crucifixion of Christ. The most iconic event in the Christian faith. For centuries people believed his body was wrapped in a linen cloth: the Shroud of Turin. And imprinted on the fabric was the actual face of Christ. ibid.
But the Shroud had its share of misfortune. Fire nearly destroyed it in 1532, and water stained the image. Nuns repaired the Shroud and attached a protective backing cloth. In 1578 the Shroud moved to its current resting place in northern Italy. ibid.
Finally, in 1978, despite strong resistance from some in the Vatican the Church agreed. For the first time Science had a chance to test the authenticity of one of Christianity’s holiest relics. The scientists were not allowed to mark, cut or damage the Shroud in any way. The team’s main goal was the discover how the image got on the Shroud. ibid.
The chemical signature of real blood. The team had discovered a powerful connected to the Crucifixion. When haemoglobin breaks down it creates bilirubin, the substance that causes bruises to turn yellow. Analysis showed that the stains contained very high levels of bilirubin, consistent with the trauma of crucifixion. And UV photography revealed one more incredible clue: serum is the liquid medium in which red blood cells are suspended; it remained invisible until UV light made the dried serum fluoresce. ibid.
For the test each lab worked in isolation. Finally after checking and re-checking the results they had the answer. They knew how old the Shroud was. The Shroud was dated between 1260 and 1390. The result was a stunning revelation making headlines around the world. ibid.
While checking images taken in 1978 Benford noticed something strange about the piece of Shroud chosen for the carbon dating samples. The herringbone pattern that is so consistent elsewhere in the cloth looked misaligned. Benford and Marino believe that the carbon dating was wrong because the section chosen for the samples was contaminated with later material. They believe the original linen was repaired with completely different cotton thread in the sixteenth century. The repair was then expertly dyed so that it would be invisible to the naked eye ... Benford and Marino argued that because the carbon dating material contained samples from both the sixteenth and first centuries, the result was in-between the two. ibid.
In 2005 just five weeks before losing his battle with cancer Rogers prepared to publish his last academic paper. He wasn’t casting doubt on the science of carbon dating, but the selection of a contaminated sample in the damaged corner of the Shroud: in his opinion the carbon dating tests didn’t reveal its true age. ibid.
After Ray [Rogers] death Bob Villarreal was determined to honour his promise. He passed the fibres to a specialist. And something remarkable happened. Just as Rogers suspected, the threads appeared to be two pieces of cotton and linen woven together. In 2008 the findings were announced to the world. They supported the theory that the carbon dating sample was poorly chosen, as Rogers suggested in his final interview. ibid.
But scientific tests also concluded that the image wasn’t painted, and the cloth contained the chemical components of real blood. ibid.
It is not only the historic content that suggests that the Shroud could be a forgery. There are clues in the Shroud itself. The image shows a man that would have been extraordinarily tall in Jesus’ time. The back is taller than the front. And compared to a normal man the head is simply too small for the body. And sits too low on the chest. Finally, there’s the problem of the so-called globe effect ... It’s a problem of geometry ... The image on the Shroud is not distorted in this way. Leonardo: The Man Behind the Shroud, National Geographic 2001
It was the remarkable similarity to Leonardo’s self-portrait that first made people wonder if there might be a link between Leonardo and the Shroud. ibid.
Using the latest computer technology Ray Downing seeks not only to clarify the image on the cloth, he wants to bring it to life. If he succeeds, the world will see for the very first time the man many believe to be Jesus Christ himself. The Real Face of Jesus? History 2010
Religious believers and scientists alike were suddenly caught up in the mystery. The Shroud’s exact age remains uncertain. But it’s known to date back to at least the 1300s. This means that if the Shroud is a forgery as many contend then the forger created a complex photo-negative image at least 500 years before the invention of photography. ibid.
New evidence suggests that a secretive band of holy crusaders known as the Knights Templar may have had possession of the Shroud, or at the very least were aware of its existence in the year 1287. ibid.
Having isolated all the blood from the image on the Shroud, Downing is able to apply it to the model of the body, creating the first forensically accurate image of the man many believe to have been Jesus Christ. The result is astounding. ibid.
It seems to be imprinted like a photographic negative. Remaking the Shroud, National Geographic 2010
How could it be a medieval fake when photography wasn’t invented until at least six hundred years later? ibid.
It means that in the time of Jesus bodies weren’t wrapped in one cloth but in several different pieces. It makes the Shroud of Turin an unlikely candidate for the actual burial cloth of Jesus. ibid.
They claim that there are even older accounts of the Shroud dating back to seventh century Spain. ibid.
Perhaps the Shroud was never meant to be a relic but a focus of worship. ibid.
Forgery, being the weirdest form of creativity there is, like antiques, costs lives. Why is it that antiques demand sacrificial victims? Dunno, but if they don’t get enough, forgery does. You want proof? Here it is: Once a faker’s found out, he dies. Truly. It always happens. Jonathan Gash, Jade Woman
The handwriting on the wall may be a forgery. Ralph Hodgson
Nothing is original under the sun. Art and Craft: Mark Landis, Sky Arts 2015
I was in the habit of saying I had a sister. ibid.
I just like to copy things. It’s reassuring. ibid.
‘I found 46 museums in 20 States; but more than 100 pieces he's offered up to these institutions.’ ibid. curator
I live by the code of The Saint ... Such a great show. ibid.
Copying pictures is my gift. ibid.
‘He gave it to the museum for free.’ ibid. rozzer
I enjoyed making those notes. After all, you know, forgery is an art. Dusty Ermine 1936 starring Margaret Rutherford & Ronald Squire & Jane Baxter & Anthony Bushell & Arthur Macrae & Athole Stewart & Katie Johnson & Davina Craig & Austin Trevor & Felix Aylmer & Hal Gordon et al, director Bernard Vorhaus
January 28th 2008: the head of one of Britain’s most illusive crime families arrives to be sentenced. Together, Olive, Shaun and George Greenhalgh have become the most successful forgers in history. Their fakes ranged across all types of art. The Artful Codgers, Channel 4 2008
Most of their fakes were made in their garden shed. ibid.
The Artful Codgers – the most unlikely master-criminals the world has ever seen. ibid.
Police suspect they sold over a 140 forgeries. ibid.
The Greenhalghs moved on from faked paintings to bogus antiquities … all made by their son Shaun … Shaun taught himself how to fool the experts by visiting his local libraries. ibid.
Conceptual thinking and those who are ready to break the rules, who are ready to learn from me how to pick a safety-lock, how to forge a document: you see a film like Fitzcarraldo would never have been possible without a massive forgery. At that time Peru was a military dictatorship. All of a sudden a military build-up along the river where I had to move my ship. I was stopped, shot at. And I demanded an explanation and I didn’t get an explanation. I was only told, Where is your shooting permit? And I said, of course I made it up, It’s in Lima, it’ll take me three or four days to bring it to the jungle. So four days later I come with a very elaborate beautiful document written in antiquated Chancellory sort of fictional Spanish and Notary paper and it says, El Presidente de la Republica – The President of the Republic … a complete fake … and looks at the document and salutes and says, pass on. Werner Herzog, interview Hardtalk, BBC 2017
If we’re wondering if Jimmy’s up to a little casual forgery, you should know in High School he had a thriving business making fake IDs so his buddies could buy beer. Better Call Saul s2e9: Nailed, Saul, AMC 2016