Re: medieval photography

Thomas C Waters (twater+@pitt.edu)
Wed, 18 Oct 1995 23:13:20 -0400 (EDT)

cOn Thu, 19 Oct 1995, Dan Shapiro wrote:

> I heard an amazing thing on BBC last night... a claim by two folks (Lynn
> Pickett and Clyde Prince) that the shroud of Turin was a photograph made
> by Leonardo da Vinci on an old tablecloth. They said lots of folks were
> experimenting with optics and photographic processes at that time.
>
> Sure is news to me! Is anyone out there willing to say *which* processes
> might have been possible in the 1500s?
>
> Dan Shapiro

I sure hope someone with more actual knowledge than I will post
concerning this. Seems to me to be a very interesting and amazing idea.

My guess however would be that wasn't as straight forward as might be
thought. I mean, painters of the time knew much about pigments and
mixing them to achieve results. And I'm sure that chemical solutions
that are photosensitive existed, even if the reasons behind their
abilities were not known or understood. It is I think conceivable to
believe that people were doing things for a result even if they didn't
know why it was happening.

But another issue is raised by your post for me. I thought the Shroud
was carbon dated to be earlier thn 1500. Am I wrong?? If the Shroud is
supposedly from the burial of Christ, it wouldn't be connected to 1500...
Did the story you heard say anything about that???

--
Thomas C. Waters
twater+@pitt.edu
I always assume someone is gay unless they tell me otherwise.

"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love." Martin Luther King Jr.