Noli Me Tangere

Francesco Botticini painted this Noli Me Tangere scene around 1485, depicting the moment when the risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalene in the garden and instructs her not to touch him. The subject was popular in Florentine art and frequently appeared in altarpiece predellas narrating Christ's post-Resurrection appearances. Botticini's treatment follows established Florentine compositional formulas. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting.

Tempera on panel with a garden landscape setting appropriate to the biblical narrative. The figures of Christ and the Magdalene are drawn with Botticini's characteristic clean lines and bright, clear coloring.