What do the images on the Shroud of Turin look like?
The Shroud of Turin contains two life-size
negative images, front and
back, of an apparently crucified man. The images are head-to-head
suggesting that a man was laid out on the cloth with his feet at one end
and that the cloth was brought over the top of his head and draped
across his front.
No one has demonstrated, in a scientifically plausible way, how the images were formed. The leading hypothesis is that the image was formed chemically and naturally, perhaps from a chemical reaction of amine vapors coming from the body and a residue of natural carbohydrate substance on the cloth. Such a substance has been detected and is expected from washing the cloth in natural soap after weaving and before the cloth was used. This leading hypothesis is commonly called the diffusion hypothesis.
The images are unique. There is nothing like them in the world of art. The images are:
- similar to photographic negatives but are not photographs
- contain height-field data that can be plotted as 3D elevations of the body
- are superficial to the topmost two or three fibers of thread
- the body is anatomically precise
- the wounds are medically correct as only a modern pathologist would understand them
- the images are unexpected from a medieval point of view
This is photographic negative of the Shroud. Notice that it is a positive image.
- How tall is the image of the man on the Shroud of Turin?
- Were the images painted?
- Didn't Ray Rogers provide a definitive answer about paint?