life-imitates-art-far-more:

Giuseppe Sanmartino. (1720-1793)
“Veiled Christ” (1753)
Marble
Rococo
Located in the Cappella Sansevero, Naples, Italy

Over the centuries, the depiction of the veil has acquired its own legend, in which the original commissioner of the sculpture, the famous scientist and alchemist Raimondo di Sangro taught the sculptor how to transform cloth into crystiline marble.

For about three centuries, many visitors to the Cappella, were so amazed by the veiled sculpture, that they wrongly believed it to be the result of a “marblification” performed by the prince, who was meant to have laid a real veil on the sculpture and transformed it into marble over time by means of a chemical process.