Shroud notes

The Templars and the Shroud of Christ by Barbara Frale (Skyhorse 2012).
p8. She notes that the 1988 radiocarbon dating tests were not accepted by many on ground that the relic had had a large number of contaminations. Even Willard Libby, who invented the C-14 test, had opposed the experiment.
The C-14 results -- three different labs -- dated the cloth to 1260-1390 +- 130 years. This mildly undermines the conjecture that the art work was carried out by Leonardo, who was active around 1500. If we say the shroud dates to 1325 (the average of the lower and upper limit), then 1500 (as an approximate time for Leonardo) - 1325 = 175. That figure still seems within the range of plausibility. But 1325 - 30 = 1295. It doesn't seem likely that the test would be off by 1300 years, though one never can be sure.
Hence, these facts, plus the other evidence make me continue to plug for Leonardo as the man behind this magic!
Leonardo used to have corpses brought to his house, illegally, so that he could study them. Not many others would have been so daring. And we can see the results in his anatomical studies, which, I say, have striking parallels in the shroud image.
The other side of that story is that we don't see a lot of evidence of him using the camera obscure technique in his paintings. But, as he was a polymath scientist, who knows what he might or might not have tried?
The Vatican's Shroud caretaker, a cardinal, termed it a "venerable icon of Christ" -- which is not an endorsement of its authenticity. But, on the other hand, she says, it connotes more than "holy image." i.e., it may confer spiritual benefit by its contemplation.

---

Dr. Barbara Frale is a historian on staff at the Vatican Secret Archives. An expert in ancient documents, the Templars, and the Crusades, Frale is the author of several books including "The Last Battle of the Templars", " The Papacy and the Trial of the Templars", and "The Templars". She is also the author of the acclaimed "The Templars: The Secret History Revealed". Frale earned her PhD at the University of Venice.

---

Frale went on to write The Shroud of Jesus of Nazareth. That book is completely unavailable. Catholic Church pressure?
She was a historian for the Vatican's Secret Archive, now known as the Vatican Apostolic Archive.
Wiki:
In November 2009 Barbara Frale claimed that she had discovered the burial certificate of "Jesus of Nazareth" on the Shroud of Turin, and that the date was in accord with the Gospel records.[14] Frale stated that her reconstruction of the text reads:
"In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year". Since Tiberius became emperor after the death of Octavian Augustus in AD 14, the 16th year of his reign would be within the span of the years AD 30 to 31.[14][15]
Frale's methodology has been criticized, partly based on the objection that the writings are too faint to see.[16][17]

---