Noli Me Tangere – Iconography of Mary Magdalene and Risen Jesus – Julie Henkener

Well, the July 22nd feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene has rolled around yet again. For my celebration this year, I present this blog post to provide some commentary on John 20:1-18, the resurrection appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene and to explore the iconography of Noli me tangere in Western art, from the 11th through the 17th centuries that is associated with this meeting of Mary Magdalene with the Risen Jesus. Eighteen images, some of the many Noli me tangere paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and frescos in the art world, are included and discussed. The phrase “noli me tangere” is literally “do not touch me,” or “touch me not” in Latin, but it is often translated as “do not cling to me” or “stop holding onto me.”

Commentary

All four gospels name Mary Magdalene as the faithful disciple who is present at the crucifixion on Good Friday as well at the tomb on Easter morning. Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell the story of several women myrrh-bearers, including Mary Magdalene, who find the empty tomb early on the first day of the week after the crucifixion. However, the gospel of John includes the story where MM meets Jesus, the Risen Christ, who commissions her to go and tell the other disciples that he is alive. This forever seals her position as the Apostle to the Apostles, and she was recognized as such in the writings of Hippolytus, bishop and martyr of Rome (circa 170-236 CE). The dramatic story begins in darkness, as Mary comes alone to the tomb, but finds the stone rolled away and the body mysteriously missing.

Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away, so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple (the one Jesus loved) and told them, “The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put him!” (John 20:1-2)

The narrative continues with Mary rushing to the other disciples of Jesus, specifically Peter and the Beloved Disciple, to get backup. She lets them know that the body of Jesus is missing and that she feared that someone had taken it away, possibly for nefarious reasons. So they ran to the tomb and found it just as she had described. They observe that the burial wrappings have been removed and are lying on the ground. And the cloth that had covered his face was rolled up and placed in a separate area from the other wrappings. Puzzled about what might have happened, Peter and the Beloved Disciple simply went home.

At that, Peter and the other disciple started out on their way toward the tomb. They were running side by side, but then the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He did not enter, but bent down to peer in and saw the wrappings lying on the ground. Presently, Simon Peter came along behind him and entered the tomb. He observed the wrappings on the ground and saw the piece of cloth, which had covered his head, not lying with the wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. (Remember, as yet they did not understand the Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) With this, the disciples went back home. (John 20:3-10)

But steadfast, faithful Mary Magdalene wasn’t going anywhere. She remains at the tomb weeping, trying to figure out what had happened and what to do next. This time, when she bends down to look into the tomb, she is met by dazzling angels who ask her why she is weeping. Unlike other descriptions of encounters with angels in the Bible, MM does not seem to be afraid and answers right away that she is looking for the body of Jesus.

Meanwhile, Mary stood weeping beside the tomb. Even as she wept, she stooped to peer inside, and there she saw two angels in dazzling robes. One was seated at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus’ body had lain. “Woman,” they asked her, “why are you weeping?” She answered them, “Because the Lord has been taken away, and I do not know where they have put him.” (John 20:11-13)

And then she turned around and, in the turning, catches a glimpse of Jesus. She does not recognize him, but rather assumes he must be the gardener. This is the only place in the Bible that uses the word “gardener” or κηπουρός (képouros). Like the angels, he asks her, “why are you weeping?” She replies again that she does not know where the body of Jesus is and that she would like to bring it back to the tomb.

Why didn’t she recognize him, after spending so much time with him during his ministry? Two possible explanations that are common are: 1) that somehow his body and appearance was actually physically changed by the resurrection process and 2) that perhaps she was so distraught and crying that she was off balance and could barely see through her tears. However, I will add a third, 3) which is that she was looking for Jesus’s body not his resurrected self. It’s almost like she had tunnel vision and could not see that the reality of what she wanted and longed for the most actually existed and was right in front of her. This is frequently the case with us today, as we are always just waking up and often can’t see the most obvious things.

This lack of recognizing Jesus after the Resurrection is in line with another gospel account. I am referring to the story of the disciples who were walking to Emmaus, where they did not recognize him until the breaking of the bread. This narrative can be found in Luke 24:13-36.

She had no sooner said this than she turned around and caught sight of Jesus standing there. But she did not know him. “Woman,” he asked her, “why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for?” She supposed he was the gardener, so she said, “Sir, if you are the one who carried him off, tell me where you have laid him and I will take him away.” (John 20:14-15)

Finally, Jesus speaks her name, “Mary!” and she turns again, recognizing him by his voice. This is the climax of the story, where she sees and is seen, and she instantly responds, “Rabbouni!” The turning itself is important. In this moment, MM turns her body, but turns within herself as well and finds that her deepest desire was right there in that NOW moment.

Then, Jesus tells her not to cling to him, with a curious explanation that he has not yet ascended. In this way, perhaps he was just letting her know ahead of time that he would be leaving again. This “do not cling to me” language is obviously much different from his interaction with the Apostle Thomas later in the gospel (John 20:24-29). Instead of pushing Thomas away, Jesus actually invites him to touch his wounds to verify that it is indeed the Risen Jesus. I believe that Christ was responding in love to them both in the ways that were different, but most essential to each. He knew that Mary would need to be ready to let go of him at the ascension, whereas Doubting Thomas needed to trust that the Resurrection was real.

To finish the story, Jesus commissions her, personally authorizes her, to go and speak to the disciples–to tell them that Jesus is alive and will be ascending to the Father. This is the moment when Mary Magdalene becomes an apostle. Being an apostle means being a witness to the Resurrected Jesus, with a mandate to go and spread the Good News. And by Jesus sending MM to the other disciples, he effectively transforms her into the Apostle to the Apostles. And the last verse of this gospel story, John 20:18, tells us that she did go and address the soon to be apostles, by excitedly declaring, “I have seen the Lord!”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned to him and said “Rabbouni!” (meaning “Teacher”). Jesus then said, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Rather, go to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God!” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples. “I have seen the Lord!” she announced. Then she reported what he had said to her. (John 20:16-18)

Iconography

The Noli me tangere iconography, like Resurrection icongraphy in general, can be traced back to at least the Middle Ages. Medieval Western European artists began to depict the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene using a sort of formula with MM kneeling at the left, usually reaching out to a standing Jesus on the right who leans or turns away from her, raising a hand to deter her. This positioning corresponds to the way Western languages are read, and so the action flows left to right, as we expect it to.

In this way, the overall iconography was settled very early on, especially the positioning of Mary as kneeling on the ground, which is almost completely universal across the centuries. Also, in the Noli me tangere iconography, the inclusion of the jar of oil, which is normally shown as an attribute for Mary Magdalene, is often missing, only appearing in about 25% of the images I surveyed. It’s possible that the established iconography was strong enough that it was not considered necessary.

I should also point out what Margaret Duffy (in reference 1 below) calls “an iconographical offshoot of the subject” pertaining to the statement in John 20:15 where Mary Magdalene presumed that Jesus was the gardener. Taking this single sentence in the Gospel narrative, artists have woven the story into their compositions. Jesus is frequently shown holding a hoe, spade, shovel or scythe, and there are even images where he wears a floppy hat for protection from the sun. I encourage you to read two excellent blog posts about this topic–look below for links to references 1 and 5.

Images 1 through 3 are examples of Noli me tangere medieval illuminated manuscripts from the 11th through the 13th centuries. It is interesting that these three simple depictions all show Jesus with the fingers of his right hand stretched out in a position of blessing or benediction. This seems to have disappeared in later works. All three images are set in the gardens around the tomb, by including the presence of tall shoots from plants or trees. This stylistic rendition of tree-like plants symbolizes growth and new life. In fact, image 2 intriguingly depicts Mary Magdalene supported by and growing out from within the boundaries of the plant!

Images 4 through 8 are from the 14th and 15th centuries, a time period generally described as that of the Early Renaissance art movement. These include the Giotto fresco in the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi (image 4) and the Fra Angelico fresco from the convent of San Marco in Florence (image 7). Reference 4 has an especially compelling discussion of the Fra Angelico fresco that points out the connection between the small, red flowers in the grass (zoom way in) and the stigmata blood on the hands of Jesus. The same red dot painting technique was used for both. Also, during this early Renaissance time period, works of art began to show more depth and movement than the earlier illuminated manuscript illustrations.

The Noli me tangere iconography was especially popular during the High Renaissance time period, generally accepted to be 1490-1527 CE. Paintings from this era (examples here are mostly Italian) are shown in images 9-15. In these paintings, you can see that some of these later artists have placed Mary kneeling to the right and reaching up to Jesus. This reversal essentially causes us to read backwards, so to speak, emphasizing dramatic movement. Also combined with this innovation, some depictions show Jesus moving his clothing away from Mary’s reach or the clothing is painted in such a way that enhances movement in the compositions. Almost all of the images included in this blog post, even the earliest illuminated manuscript painting, seem to have a real dance-like quality to them. In addition, some of the High Renaissance depictions, especially in images shown here by Henriques (image 11), Titian (image 12), and Romano (image 14), exhibit the distinct presence of an erotic element.

As expected, image 10, the Dutch painting by Jacob Crenelisz van Oostsanen, seems more stiff and formal than the contemporary 16th century Italian paintings (images 12-15). It also shows Jesus leaning on a shovel and touching an elaborately dressed Mary Magdalene on her head. Image 9 by Bramantino and image 18 by Alonso Cano also show Jesus touching MM’s head. Always on the lookout for paternalistic influences of the patriarchy (is he really patting her on the head?), I studied the facial expressions of Jesus and Mary as much as I could with these digital images and, with the exception of image 9, I saw only kindness and affection. I found the expressions in image 9 to be a little inscrutible. I couldn’t tell if Jesus was condescending in the way he looked at her or maybe he was just teasing her? Nevertheless, it seems sort of strange for Jesus to say, “don’t touch me” and at the same time to reach out to touch her. I am going to just chalk it up as kindly paradox or an attempt by Jesus to soften the statement.

Finally, the 17th century paintings I have included are images 16-18. With the exception of the somewhat dystopian painting by El Greco’s son and pupil, Jorge Manuel Theotocópuli (image 15), the colors are just as brightly chosen as those in the High Renaissance art period. The Theotocópuli image would be considered Mannerist, but overall, the Baroque art movement is usually presented as ranging between the dates of 1600 and 1750 CE. I find the art from this time period as overly ornate for my taste, and the angel or cherubim baby heads with wings are fussy and do not resonate with me. For this reason, I included only a few examples of Noli Me Tangere artwork from the 17th century. That being said, I really love the tender Alonso Cano painting in image 18!

Happy Mary Magdalene Feast Day!

If you liked this, you might be interested in my other blog post about the iconography of the resurrection.

Readings: The New American Bible, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington DC, 1970.

Reference 1: Margaret Duffy, Iconography of the Resurrection–Jesus the Gardener, blog post at Ad Imaginem Dei website, April 18, 2017.

Reference 2: Margaret Duffy, Iconography of the Resurrection–Noli Me Tangere, blog post at Ad Imaginem Dei website, April 29, 2011.

Reference 3: Edoardo Fanfani, Noli Me Tangere: An Easter Iconography, blog post at The Roman Anglican website, April 12, 2020.

Reference 4: Victoria Emily Jones, blog post with excerpt by Georges Didi-Huberman, Sowing the stigmata: A reading of Fra Angelico’s Noli me tangere, Art & Theology, April 20, 2018.

Reference 5: Victoria Emily Jones, blog post She mistook him for the gardener, Art & Theology, April 5, 2016.

Reference 6: Noli me tangere, Wikipedia, accessed 7/20/2026.

Image 1: Illuminated Gospel Book, German, Hildesheim Cathedral Museum, MS DS 18, fol. 75v, circa 1015 CE.

Image 2: Illuminated Miniatures of the Life of Christ, French, Morgan Library, MS M 44, fol. 12r, circa 1170-1180 CE.

Image 3: Psalter, Belgium, Bruges, Morgan Library, MS M.106 fol. 71v, circa 1255-1256 CE.

Image 4: Giotto, Noli Me Tangere fresco, Basilica of San Francesco, Lower Church, Magdalen Chapel, Assisi, Italy, 1320 CE.

Image 5: Noli Me Tangere, German fresco, Mendig, Niedermendig, Catholic Parish Church of Saint Cyriacus, circa 1300-1350 CE.

Image 6: Jean LeNoir and assistants, illuminated manuscript, Breviary of Charles V of France, circa 1364-1370 CE, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris, MS Latin 1052, fol. 4251364.

Image 7: Fra Angelico, Noli Me Tangere, Italian fresco, National Museum of San Marco, Florence, Italy, circa 1440 CE.

Image 8: German Northern Renaissance painting by Martin Schongauer, 1480 CE, Dominican Altarpiece, currently resides in the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, Wikimedia Commons.

Image 9: Bramantino, Noli Me Tangere, Italian fresco, Civico Museo d’Arte Antica, Milan, Italy, circa 1498–1500.