[Bellflower]

Why in the world would a medieval artist go to all the trouble of making a fake cloth that would stand up to futuristic testing, many, many years later? Nobody would have anything to compare it to to make it realistic as there wasn't anything like it, a photo, at that time.

If he wanted a cloth that people would venerate at that time that could be exploited for money and power all he had to do was make a carefully done thin painting on a cloth that either was old or he made to look old and he would have easily gotten away with it.

The forgery is positively rudimentary compared to the real Shroud of Turin.

[heartwood]

Agreed - so much more subtlety in the Shroud - true shroud of Christ or not; it’s far better done.