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Theories of image formation - Photographic image production (Wikipedia)
Some viewers see a strong resemblance between this self-portrait of Leonardo da Vinci and the Man of the Shroud.Skeptics have proposed many means for producing the image in the Middle Ages. Lynn Picknett and Clive Prince (1994) proposed that the shroud is perhaps the first ever example of photography, showing the portrait of its alleged maker, Leonardo da Vinci. According to this theory, the image was made with the aid of a magic lantern, a simple projecting device, and light-sensitive silver compounds applied to the cloth. However, Leonardo was born a century after the first documented appearance of the cloth. Supporters of this theory thus propose that the original cloth was a poor fake, for which Leonardo's superior hoax was substituted, though no contemporaneous reports indicate a sudden change in the quality of the image. However, the resemblance between the shroud image and Leonardo's famous self-portrait has been described as striking by many.
[This is overblown coverage for a polemic that few people think at all realistic. It depends heavily on the carbon 14 dating that has been proven wrong.]
See: What is the theory that the images were created by Leonardo da Vinci? What is the theory that the images are prototype photographs produced before 1356?
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© 2004 Daniel R. Porter, Bronxville, New York
