Leonardo, the Turin Shroud & the Mona Lisa

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Just watched an entertaining Channel 5 documentary which claimed that Leonardo da Vinci faked the Turin Shroud for the Duke of Savoy by using existing camera obscura techniques to create the world's first photograph (of tortured and a crucified man).

The case presented was that Leonardo is known from his notebooks to have both experimented with optics and dissected the corpses of criminals to enhance his understanding of human anatomy.

The shroud image is said to be a montage of three separate images, which "explains" why the face of Jesus appears to be too small for the rest of the body on the shroud.

The shroud's body was said to be that of a tortured and executed criminal.

But whose face is it? Why, claimed the documentary, that of Leonardo himself- who is also said to have used his own face for the Mona Lisa. The latter image was postulated as an expression of his homosexuality, while the former was claimed to be an act of extraordinary egotism: Leonardo presenting himself as a Christ-like "Perfect man".

All this would be merely amusing hokum, were it not for the work of a forensic scientist whose job involves microscopically-accurate measurements of every human feature from the curve of the eyebrow to the position of the tip of the nose. The features of the face of Jesus on the shroud match exactly a particular drawing in Leonardo's notebooks, thought to be that of Leonardo himself- which, in turn matches the features of the Mona Lisa!

Well, it was all good fun. I'd never previously thought of a connection between the face of the Mona Lisa and the face of Jesus.

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Certainly accounts for the enigmatic smile. Smile

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

The face on the shroud (positive and negative images).

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Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Leonardo Self-Portrait in red chalk. The face on the shroud?

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

Gender: Number of posts: 172 Registration date: 2008-12-11

There is a resemblance.

I wonder how da Vinci would like it that the Mona Lisa is in France.

How did it get there?

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Dharma Wheel wrote:

I wonder how da Vinci would like it that the Mona Lisa is in France.

How did it get there?

Wikipedia says that Leonardo brought the painting to France in 1516. It was eventually purchased by King Francois I, mostly likely through the heirs of Da Vinci's assistant Salai.

It remained in the hands of the French Royal family until the Revolution, when Napoleon hung it in his bedroom at the Tuilleries for a while before passing it onto the Louvre.

It wasn't repatriated to Italy after the Restoration of the Bourbons like so many other art treasures looted by Napoleon because the original purchase by Francois I had been perfectly legitimate.

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

Gender: Number of posts: 172 Registration date: 2008-12-11

I like this one very much--Virgin and Child with St. Ann.

Like the self-portrait, it is simply chalk on paper--very beautiful. It's quite a large piece.

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Eddie wrote:

The face on the shroud (positive and negative images).

I always thought it was John Mayall.

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Number of posts: 697 Registration date: 2009-06-19

precinct14 wrote:

Eddie wrote:

The face on the shroud (positive and negative images).

I always thought it was John Mayall.

Spooky similarity!

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Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Eddie wrote:

The shroud image is said to be a montage of three separate images, which "explains" why the face of Jesus appears to be too small for the rest of the body on the shroud.

The shroud's body was said to be that of a tortured and executed criminal.

The head does indeed appear to be disproportionate in size to the rest of the body:

There is, however, a possible anatomical explanation for this inconsistency.

Crucifixion is essentially a process of slow strangulation, during which the victim is forced to fight for every breath. In the course of this appalling agony, the chest cavity expands well beyond its normal size.

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1ikmq7ddbs

This is great: a photographic montage illustrating the whole Leonardo/Mona Lisa/Shroud theory- with musical accompaniment.

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas

Head Librarian Gender: Number of posts: 2308 Registration date: 2008-07-30

Previously unknown youthful self-portrait of Leonardo discovered concealed in his notebooks beneath written observations on bird-flight.

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The salmon-falls, the mackerel-crowded seas