Antoine Hérisset, printmaker

The Holy Shroud of Jesus was placed in a special chapel in Turin’s cathedral in 1694. The king felt that “to crown such a magnificent festival and triumph of joy” as the celebrations for his own wedding in 1737, he should order one of the rare expositions of this important relic. On May 4, a crowd gathered “of subjects and foreigners who had since morning found places to stand on the Piazza and in the neighborhood, and on balconies, loggias, windows and rooftops near where the
precious sheet would be shown.” At 4:00 the king attended Vespers in the chapel, and, accompanied by other high-ranking nobles and clerics, processed the shroud under a magnificent baldachin throughout the palace. He finally hung the shroud from a parapet facing the piazza, as we see here, to the sound of cannons, singing, musical instruments, applause, and every voice raised to thank God for the universal happiness at the sight of the miraculous cloth.