An Artful Relic: The Shroud of Turin in Baroque Italy by Andrew R. Casper (review)

Reviewed by: An Artful Relic: The Shroud of Turin in Baroque Italy by Andrew R. Casper Paolo Antinucci An Artful Relic: The Shroud of Turin in Baroque Italy. By Andrew R. Casper. (University Park, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press. 2021. Pp. xii, 203. 49. 95. Hardcover. ISBN 978-0-271-09039-9. ) The work of Andrew R. Casper is a surprising and felicitous exception amidst the rather monotonous landscape of "sindonic" literature. Indeed, the first reflection that emerges from reading the book's exquisite pages is the relief that finally some aspects of the sindon, submerged by the "authenticationist propaganda, " shed new light on the subject. The subject matter is itself an important first aspect of the book. Already in the excellent introductory pages, from my point of view—an aesthetic-hermeneutical point of view—the attention paid to the preliminary placing of the discours ("un ensemble de séquences de signes, " Foucault) in the context of the study of the artistic imaginary in a historical segment of the life of the Shroud is certainly appreciable. The text indirectly asserts that the materiality of the object is not the primary concern. Instead, it emphasizes the importance of delineating the specific connotation of the object's reception within the community of faithful, while also extending beyond these boundaries into the cultural community. It would be wrong to underestimate this aspect: the observer's imagination mirrors with remarkable accuracy an underlying essence of the observed object; the specific type of discourse of Casper discovers something important in the "ensemble de séquences de signes" enclosed in the Shroud itself. The two discours mirror and echo each other. The book's central chapters develop the underlying argument of the author's meditations. A first aspect of these reflections is the detection of conceptual and lexical elements with a distinctly artistic connotation in the majority of discourses, including those of an ecclesiastical nature. This demonstrates how the Shroud could be legitimately interpreted as an object of art, without any risk of accusations of blasphemy. Casper's attention to detail is particularly evident in his analysis of a wide range of sources, including those that are considered to be outside the mainstream. According to the author, these same sources reveal another important aspect of the reception of the "sindonic" image. This is the ability to hold together the perception of its artistic character and the absolute certainty of its divine origin. Casper convincingly argues this point on the basis of a careful examination of iconography and artistic production (even going into technical detail), focusing especially on the period after the Council of Trent, during the Italian Baroque period. The result is a rather daring but well-founded and well-argued thesis. The Sindon was considered a work of art of divine origin. Therefore, an object artistically produced by God. End Page 425 It is undoubtedly a difficult thesis to digest for us modern people. However, Casper effectively demonstrates how such an argument was freely conceivable in the period under consideration. In light of this discovery, the author explores the spectrum of "psycho-cognitive" modes in aesthetic perception. Probably involuntarily but no less significantly, Casper touches on topics of Psychology of Form to show how the reactions of the observers in front of the sindon were of an eminently emotional nature. This emotionality proves to be specific both to artistic perception and to the feeling of the "sacred. " From the point of view of the "feeling of the sacred, " in the absence of other research on the Shroud of Turin that adopts a similar approach, I am forced to rely on my own studies, which are centered in Vedere la Sindone. Indagine sul suo vero autore (Milan: Editoriale Jouvence, 2022). Casper's work in this sense is a true precursor. In fact, precisely with regard to the feeling of the "sacred, " the author intuits what I argue explicitly: in the presence of the "sacred, " the ecstatic feeling and the aesthetic perception merge indissolubly. This is precisely what allows the people of the time to entertain the "wild" idea that God is the artist who created the Shroud and to perceive emotionally the fusion of religious ecstasy. . .