(sequel to my blog of 11 December...)

With a Medieval dating of this controversial rug, we have to look for a method that was at that time available to create the image (Jackson). A special solution to this problem is the proto-photography theory of African art historian Nicholas Allen. This theory is based on the idea that if the raw materials used to make a photograph by means of a camera obscura were available in the Middle Ages, they could have been used by someone to produce the image on the rug (Schwortz). Allan came up with this theory because he accepts the medieval dating but also thinks that, as Fanti categorized it as 'unquestionable fact', the image is not painted and therefore it should be a photograph (Schwortz). According to Schwortz, the official photographer of the first research team to study the rug, Allen succeeded in his intent to prove that he was able to make a photograph similar to the image on the rug with medieval materials, but with this replication of the rug, he was able to make a picture similar to the image on the rug. proof of his 'proto-photography theory' (see images 1 and 2). For example, the replica of Allen clearly shows light and there is no 'directionality of light' on the original rug. According to Schwortz, the dark spots that Allen identifies as shadows indicate contact with a body. In addition to the fact that these spots cannot have been obtained by light or photography, a computer model of the photographically crafted replica does not show a relief as on the original. Also, the contours on Allen's replica, unlike the original, are very sharp (Schwortz). For an understanding of the process of formation with which the image was created on the rug, it is necessary to use not only some, butall attributes to replicate. In addition, the theory discussed here also forms an anachronism. Schwortz rightly notes that Allen's remark that raw materials were available in the Middle Ages to take a photograph is not necessarily a reason to assume that this technology was invented and used 500 years ago by someone who did not at all the current level of science and engineering could be...

Figure 1: A comparison between the replication (left) and the original (right).