Awesome photo

Published on Wednesday 25 November 2009 19:11

If the Turin Shroud were genuinely caused by Christ's body miraculously transmigrating through it while it was wrapped round him (your report, 21 November) the marks would be as wide as the circumference of the front half of a body rather than the diameter. It is also taller at the front than the back because the face is larger than real faces. It is unlikely God would have made such elementary errors.

The alternative is that it was manufactured using what amounts to a photographic process using silver sulphate by some Renaissance artist with a unique knowledge of anatomy and attitude to heresy. That is almost certainly Leonardo da Vinci.

That does not seriously reduce its importance. If art is the process of evoking awe and empathy, the Crucifixion is the ultimate subject, and Leonardo, whose face appears to be the one used for Christ, has created a work of art that makes the Mona Lisa look like a painting.

NEIL CRAIG

Woodlands Road

Glasgow