The Shroud of Turin continues to divide opinion, with the latest development being the claim by a Brazilian researcher that the object is a “masterpiece of Christian art” rather than a genuine relic.
The shroud is said to be the cloth used to wrap Jesus’ body when he was taken down from the cross. It bears the image of a man’s face, believed by some to be the miraculous imprint of Jesus’ face.
Believers in the authenticity of the garment have pointed to the precision and anatomical accuracy of the depiction as being beyond that of medieval artists. Others point to pollen samples that originate from the Middle East and blood samples consistent with those of a man who has been crucified.
Opponents however note that carbon dating of the artefact puts its creation at some point in the 13th or 14th centuries, something which aligns with the lack of any historical record of the shroud’s existence prior to that time.
Adding their own views to the debate is Cicero Moraes, a Brazilian 3D designer and researcher. Moraes attempted to digitally recreate the shroud via two methods. One was with an actual human body, and the other was using a relief sculpture.
It was the relief sculpture, rather than the human body, that provided the closest resemblance to the Shroud of Turin, suggesting that the original shroud was created as a piece of art, rather than wrapped over a real dead body.
Moraes, who published his work in the journal Archaeometry, said, “The Shroud's image is more consistent with an artistic low-relief representation than with the direct imprint of a real human body.”
Speaking to Live Science, he said, “The image on the Shroud of Turin is more consistent with a low-relief matrix.
“Such a matrix could have been made of wood, stone or metal and pigmented - or even heated - only in the areas of contact, producing the observed pattern.”
