"Giuseppe Enrie was a portrait photographer active in Turin beginning in 1911. Although he made a living catering to the tastes of the city’s wealthy middle class, he was also involved in the so-called Second Wave of Italian Futurism of the late 1920s and 1930s. He participated in the Esposizione di fotografia futurista held in Turin in 1928 and the Mostra sperimentale di fotografia futurista in 1931. It was through through his prominence in Turin’s photographic community that Enrie was commissioned to photograph the Shroud in May of 1931.
The Shroud of Turin, a linen burial cloth, is believed by many to bear the imprint of the body and wounds of Christ. The first historical record of the Shroud is dated to the 15th century when it was given to the House of Savoy by a French noblewoman. Since the 17th century, it has been housed in a purpose-built chapel connected to Turin’s cathedral. The first photograph of the Shroud was made during its public display in 1898 by the amateur photographer Secondo Pia. Because that photograph was produced with the Shroud under its protective glass, its evidentiary utility came under scrutiny of both believers and non-believers alike. Thus, when the Shroud was displayed publically in 1931 in honor of the wedding of Umberto II to the Belgian princess Maria José, a new set of photographs was commissioned.
Accompanied by a French scientist, a priest, and Secondo Pia, Giuseppe Enrie made twelve negatives of the Shroud. He recorded his methodology in painstaking detail in a 1933 publication, noting exposure times, precise camera settings, and the types of lenses, filters, and lighting that he used. The scientific accuracy with which Enrie photographed the Shroud perhaps ironically produced more fodder for both sides of the debate over its origins and authenticity. Enrie’s photographs of the Shroud were widely distributed.
The Shroud’s status as a miraculous image and true icon in the tradition of Veronica’s Sudarium and the Image of Edessa has also given the Shroud a prominent place in photographic history and theory. Some scholars have suggested that it might be considered ""the first photograph,"" since its image is in fact a negative produced through divine contact. Because the Shroud is itself a negative image, photographic negatives of the Shroud display its positive, so that prints, such as this one, have the reversed tonality of a negative. Enrie’s striking photographs of the Shroud inspired his Futurist milieu to experiment with negatives, and his images were incorporated into surrealism-tinged collages exploring the intersection of religion, dreams, and the supernatural. The quite literally iconic visual power of Enrie’s photograph and the aura that surrounds it make it a central artifact of photography’s history.
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ONLY ONE ON THE MARKET
The pair of photographs here presented, 1:1 size of the original , is one of only two known sets in the world. And it is the only one on the market, since the other is in possesion of the Institut Catholique de Paris.
In September of this year (2013), the Institut Catholique de Paris decided to put on sell a collection of a dozen rare photos of the Shroud derived from the 1931 Enrie's photographic plates. The auction was planned by the Ader Nordman auction house on November 17.The collection was donated by Paul Vignon (deceased in 1943) who used it for conferences and presentations. Paul Vignon was a biologist and a pioneer in Shroud research. He wrote several books about the Shroud and experimented on at least one theory of formation of the image on the Shroud.
But the sale never took place!
The collection was also planned to be shown to prospective buyers at the Institut Catholique de Paris, but that also never took place."