Between erudition and faith. Jean-Jacques Chifflet’s tract on the shroud of Besançon (1624)

Abstract

The shroud of Besançon, a large cloth considered a precious relic as an “imprint” left by Christ’s body on his burial linen, experienced a period of intense veneration and public debate from the early 16th century to the end of the 18th century. With the publication of 'De linteis sepulchralibus Christi servatoris crisis historica' (Antwerp, 1624), a treatise that was as erudite as it was intellectually and conceptually biased, the Besançon author Jean-Jacques Chifflet significantly contributed to perceptions of his local shroud and its reception. A noteworthy selection of visual material that included the very first reproduction of the shroud of Besançon in a print medium was an important part of the book’s argument. This article offers a close reading of sections of Chifflet’s treatise, with particular attention given to the author’s targeted use of engravings as 'illustrationes' (images meant, quite literally, to illuminate the text, its meaning and intention), and thus explores the representation of a local relic as a part and product of a cultural practice and of shared notions.