The Turin Shroud: How Da Vinci Fooled History

In this revision of their 1994 book, London-based writers Prince and Picknett jump on the Da Vinci Code bandwagon by claiming that the face on the Turin shroud is not Jesus but Da Vinci himself. Based on their research into the carbon-dating of the Shroud and their own re-creation of the circumstances under which the Shroud could have been created, they conclude that the Shroud is man-made, comes from no earlier than the 14th century, and that Leonardo (whom they claim invented photography) used photographic technology for the basis for the painted image. For their research, the authors compared Da Vincis painting Salvator Mundi with the image on the shroud and found that it matched up perfectly with the man on the Shroud. While the authors can provide no proof that Da Vinci used his face as the model for the face on the Shroud, their research claims a never-before acknowledged connection between Leonardo and the Shroud. Unfortunately, the authors fast-paced and detailed detective work results in little more than speculation about Da Vincis relationship to the Shroud. Only slightly provocative, the book tediously searches for new clues in an old case now shrouded in indifference.