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Noli Me Tangere

Creator

Italian Artist · 1667–1749

Alessandro Magnasco was born in Genoa to a painter father who died when he was three. He traveled to Milan in his teens and trained there with an obscure Venetian painter. In 1703 he was employed by the grand duke of Florence, where he remained for six years before returning to Milan. Early upon his return, Magnasco supplied figures for other painters' landscapes to make money. Subsequently, he be

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Date: 1705–1710
Medium: Oil on canvas
Culture: Italian
Department: Paintings
Institution: Getty Museum

Against an architectural backdrop, Mary Magdalene becomes the first witness to Christ's Resurrection. Since he had not yet ascended to heaven, Jesus instructed her not to touch him (*Noli me tangere* in Latin) and asked her to go to his disciples with the message that he had risen (John 20:11-18). Alessandro Magnasco filled this tall canvas and its pendant, [Christ and the Samaritan Woman](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/634/alessandro-magnasco-christ-and-the-samaritan-woman-italian-1705-1710/), with picturesque classical ruins, whose shapes echo the curves of the figures' theatrical poses. His energetic brushwork, nervous, sketchy style, and lively approach create around the risen Christ a flurry of drapery that seems to have a life of its own, adding to the drama of the miraculous event.

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