The Growing Enigma of the Tilma
What Science Shows Us Remarkably, as time goes on, the tilma has become more -- not less -- mysterious. First, there’s the physical makeup of the tilma itself. Woven from cactus fibers and hung for more than 100 years in a primitive chapel -- an unshielded environment exposed to constant candle smoke, damp and other damaging factors -- this delicate fabric should have wasted away in a matter of a few decades. Yet it still remains to this day, nearly 500 years later. There is far more to the tilma however, only discovered in recent years: • The overall image of Our Lady cannot be explained by science. Both its color rendering and brightness enduring over the centuries are inexplicable. All pigments known to exist in Mexico 500 years ago would have faded. • Careful testing using modern artistic restoration techniques have demonstrated that the image was made using no underdrawing, no sizing, no protective over-varnish and no brush strokes. • Under high magnification the image shows no sign of fading or cracking, after almost 500 years.
• Strangely, the pink color of the gown is transparent to infra-red light, unlike all other pigments of this hue, which are opaque. • Power magnification has revealed the fact that the coarse weave of the tilma was deliberately used in a precise manner to give depth to the face on the image. • Viewed close up, the face and hands are of a grey-white color which gradually becomes olive as one backs away -- an impossible accomplishment for any human painter. Scientists have compared this to the same effect in nature with iridescent bird feathers, butterfly scales and brightly-colored beetles. • Beginning in 1929 and continuing until today, photographers, scientists and opthalmologists have demonstrated the existence of images of human figures in both of the Virgin’s eyes. These are found in the precise location wherein figures reflected by a live human eye would be found in a photograph. The figures have been extensively analyzed and seem to correspond precisely to distortion and dissymmetry predicted by the laws of optics.
Regina Magazine
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