Noli me tangere

This sense of Christ inhabiting two realms is conveyed through the pose he adopts. Placed on the right, while the body of Christ motions away from Mary, he casts a glance over one shoulder. Giotto manages to imbue the scene with an unprecedented level of naturalism.  Naturalism in Giotto’s case entails giving the figures psychological depth, which ensures emotional resonance. Giotto’s achievement is remarkable because he sustained this emotional pitch in the whole of his Capella degli Scrovegni fresco cycle. 

In this interpretation of Christ’s resurrection, Giotto conflates two separate events—Christ’s resurrection and his subsequent meeting with Mary Magdalene. To the left of the picture an angel sits on a tomb and assumes the role of witness to the resurrection. On the right, Christ and Mary Magdalene can be seen enacting the scene known as noli me tangere. The phrase, from Latin meaning “touch me not,” refers to the first miraculous appearance of Christ, before Mary Magdalene, after his apparent death. Mary, having found the tomb empty, mistakes Jesus for a gardener and implores him to reveal the location of Christ’s dead body. Christ, in the instant he reveals himself to Mary, proclaims, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father.”