Noli me tangere

The title is the Latin for the words the risen Christ speaks to Mary Magdalene in the garden, telling her not to touch him. Correggio painted this around 1525 in Parma, and he tells the story through a small, easily missed detail. On the ground beside Christ lie a hoe, a spade, and a straw hat. Those tools are the reason Mary, kneeling before him, had at first taken him for the gardener before she recognised who he really was. Christ leans away from her outstretched hand even as he gestures toward the heavens. The panel had a long journey to Madrid. A cardinal in Bologna paid a steep price for it around 1600, and after passing through more Roman collections it left Italy and reached the Spanish court by 1643, a copy left behind in its place.