‘Le Linceul’ by Ortaire de Coupigny: A Meditation on the Shroud of Turin Through Sculpture and Painting

This life-size work, created by Ortaire de Coupigny using wax and noir de fumée, is the result of a deliberate process blending sculpture, painting, and spirituality. The image of a naked man, standing with hands crossed and eyes closed, appears behind a translucent veil of wax, as if suspended between visibility and disappearance. The work is designed to be viewed through the smooth reverse side of the wax panel, allowing the image to emerge from within, like a photographic negative.

For Ortaire de Coupigny, this inversion lies at the heart of the piece’s meaning. Through this process, he initiates a contemporary dialogue with the Shroud of Turin — a relic that has long fascinated scientists, historians, artists, and theologians. When it was photographed in 1898 by Secondo Pia, the image on the Shroud was revealed more clearly in negative — a mysterious inversion of light and shadow, in which the anatomy of a crucified man appeared with striking realism. In both the Shroud of Turin and The Shroud by Ortaire de Coupigny, depth is conveyed through light, and absence becomes presence.

The connection is not only visual, but also technical and symbolic. Just as the image on the Shroud of Turin defies scientific explanation, The Shroud by Ortaire de Coupigny resists categorization. It is neither a painting in the traditional sense, nor a fully three-dimensional sculpture. The process — a technique entirely invented by the artist — begins with a sculpted bas-relief, from which a silicone mold is created. Wax is poured into this mold and then meticulously refined. The pigment — noir de fumée, a residue of combustion — is applied to the relief side. Ortaire de Coupigny then reverses the piece. The final image is seen through the smooth and untouched back surface, allowing light to pass through the translucent material and reveal the figure.

The parallels with the Shroud are numerous:

• Both images lack defined contours; they become fully perceptible only from a certain distance.

• Both involve an inversion of volumes and values: areas that should be in shadow appear bright, and vice versa.

• Both evoke a spiritual tension between material suffering and the promise of transcendence.

  
  

In The Shroud, Ortaire de Coupigny does not attempt to reproduce the Shroud of Turin, but rather offers a meditation on its mystery. His work does not aim to affirm or deny the relic’s authenticity — instead, it reflects on the aesthetic, symbolic, and metaphysical questions the Shroud raises. Who is this man, half-present, half-absent? Is he a body, a memory, or the trace of something beyond the visible?

Through its material simplicity and conceptual depth, The Shroud becomes a kind of modern relic — not sacred in a doctrinal sense, but imbued with reverence in its exploration of form, disappearance, and light. The Christlike figure does not lie in death; he stands, fragile yet upright — a presence that, like faith itself, emerges between certainty and mystery.

At Gallery L'Éphémère, Port-Louis, Brittany, France

April 19–27 (open on weekends)

Opening reception: April 19 at 6:30 PM

"Le Linceul" by Ortaire de Coupigny. Wax and noir de fumée. 192 cm. x 67 cm.