[This was published in 2020. Following an observation made in 2023,
I have made a substantial new and alternative interpretation of the nail wound,
which can be found at ‘The Hand Talks Back!’]
Here is a photo of a hand. The palm is distinguished from the fingers in red, and the middle of the palm, where most crucifix artists place their nails, marked with a red spot.
Here is the back of that hand, flipped so that it fits the first picture, with the knuckles in black, and a black spot in the middle of the space between knuckles and wrist.
And here are the two hands superimposed, showing where a nail straight through the palm would emerge at the back.
It is instructive to measure the angle between the knuckles and these spots, and the wrist.
It is also instructive to try to measure an equivalent angle on the Shroud.
And finally, to transfer that angle to the photo above.
Not the wrist then. But what about medieval artists? Where did they place nail-holes on the back of the hand?
Left to right, top to bottom:
1) 1164. Monastery of St Panteleimon, Macedonia
2) c. 1312. Upper Rhine
3) 1473. Simon Marmion
4) c. 1350. Ugolini Lorenzetti
5) c. 1350. ? Bolognese School
6) c. 1490. Master of the Virgo inter Virgines
7) c. 1350. ? Bolognese School
And the hands:
The reason people have been persuaded that the nail-holes in the Shroud image are in the wrists is mostly due to a misinterpretation of the lights and shades of the markings. This is where the wrist really is:
A good clue is to notice that the distance from the wrist to the knuckles is always much greater than the distance from the knuckles to the next finger-joint.