Noli me tangere

Martin Schongauer

The other day I came across this painting in a book. Titled Noli me tangere, it comes from a Dominican altarpiece painted around 1475 by Martin Schongauer. I liked it so much that I decided to research it online. To my surprise, when I googled "Noli me tangere", over a dozen paintings came up, each one by a different artist. It turns out this Biblical scene was a common subject for masters to paint. It depicts the passage in the Gospel of John, after the resurrection when Mary Magdalene recognizes the voice of the risen Lord. She reaches out for him but he says to her "Noli me tangere", or "Don't touch me." Some scholars have noted that this phrase is the Latin translation from the Greek in which the Gospel was originally written, and that the words "cease holding on to me" or "stop clinging to me" more adequately describe what Jesus said to Mary Magdalene.

Andrea del Sarto

Fontana

Fra Bartolomeo

Corregio

Giotto

Fra Angelico

Hans Holbein the Younger

Titian

It's interesting to see how each artist portrays the same subject so differently. Although the scene is basically the same, each one is unique in its details. I especially love the nuances in the position of the Jesus figure. In some, he seems to reach out to Mary Magdalene while in others his body almost forms an "S" shape, moving away from her. In Titian's rendition, Jesus even pulls his garment out of Mary's reach. In Giotto's, he's moving away from her so briskly that he almost walks off the edge of the fresco. I also love the way each artist uses the hands as a means of expressing the title of the work. In some, Mary's expression is more desperate than in others. In Andrea del Sarto's, her hands are the focal point, right in the center of the canvas. She is almost pleading, her right leg at the point of lifting her up to a standing position. Jesus, in return, seems to be gently appeasing her, his palm facing down.
Mary also seems to be begging to touch Jesus in Giotto's fresco. She is down on her knees as a beggar would be, extending both hands toward him. Jesus turns back to glance at her and reaches with his hand. His arm then forms a diagonal, connecting his eyes directly to hers as he tells her not to touch him. Corregio's painting takes the Biblical passage a bit further, expressing the words the risen Lord spoke next: "for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" In the painting Jesus points up to sky as to indicate that he will soon ascend into Heaven and is asking Mary to go tell the others.
I could spend the entire day counting the details and symbolism that make each painting distinct from the other but... this post has already taken me back to my college days. I feel like I just wrote a paper for art history class ;) Enjoy the paintings.