Turin Shroud 'the creation of a Renaissance artist'My reaction to the news was similar to that of Professor Barberis:
The Turin Shroud is neither an authentic cloth in which Christ's body was wrapped nor a medieval forgery, but the creation of early Renaissance artist Giotto, according to new book by an Italian art historian.
By Nick Squires, Rome (The Telegraph)
9:00PM BST 07 Jun 2011
Luciano Buso claims to have found Giotto di Bondone's signature hidden in the 14ft-long, sepia-coloured burial cloth, as well as the number 15.
The historian believes that the number is a reference to 1315, and that the artist was commissioned in that year to come up with an exact copy of the relic because the original was badly damaged after centuries of being hawked around the Holy Land and Europe.
Mr Buso, who has laid out his controversial thesis in a new book, said the idea that the existing shroud was created in 1315 agrees with modern carbon dating tests which dated the fabric to the early 14th century.
[...]
However, Prof Bruno Barberis, the director of the Shroud of Turin Museum, was highly sceptical of the theory.That said, Mr Buso has published his theory in a book, so at least there is something for specialists to interact with. I don't know how technical the book is; if it is a popular publication it might not be of much use. But I will keep an open mind for now, with the caveat that when I hear that someone thinks they have found writing etc. on the shroud which everyone else has missed, my bogometer starts flashing.
"Firstly, physical and chemical tests have shown that the shroud is not a painting.
"Secondly, there's a long list of scholars who have enlarged images of the shroud and seen all sorts of things that don't exist – a crown of thorns, words in Aramaic and Greek and Latin. "It's like looking at the moon and thinking you can see eyes, a nose and a mouth."
Shroud of Turin background here and links.