Christ Appearing to Saint Mary Magdalen ("Noli Me Tangere") 1555 - 1565

Curator: Looking at this subtle drawing, it evokes a sense of quiet, almost hesitant interaction, doesn’t it? Editor: Yes, it feels like a captured breath. There’s a lightness to the lines that suggests fragility, both of the figures and perhaps the moment itself. Curator: Indeed. What we’re seeing here is Jacopo Bassano’s "Christ Appearing to Saint Mary Magdalen ('Noli Me Tangere')," created between 1555 and 1565. It’s rendered in ink and charcoal, currently held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Bassano really captures the symbolic weight of that phrase "Noli me tangere" - "Touch me not." There’s a real power dynamic in that implied restraint, a profound shift in their relationship. And I wonder if it speaks to the moment's place within patriarchal narratives concerning women's supposed irrationality and need for governance. Curator: That’s a sharp reading. The upraised hand of Christ, positioned as both a blessing and a boundary, really underscores that. Visually, it carries a significant tension between divinity and the earthly realm, reflecting anxieties around hierarchical structures. What's your read on that curious tool he holds? Editor: It’s fascinating! Initially, you see him resurrected but then you are drawn to his gardener tools. Bassano is offering us the symbolic layering so that we realize it’s the same man, transformed. Garden tools serve as powerful symbols—of labor, cultivation, and ultimately, the new life that Christ’s resurrection promises. It echoes older pagan symbology, of growth cycles and fertility. Curator: I see your point. The drawing is deceptively simple in its execution, but dense with layers of symbolic meaning concerning societal power. The positioning of Mary Magdalen at Christ's feet reminds us that societal structures haven't fundamentally altered over centuries in ways that give women agency. Editor: Absolutely. And the intentional ambiguity that the artist embeds is an invitation for continuous dialogue and for questioning social constraints, and I think, considering it today, in a post #metoo and feminist art world, it makes it even more timely. Curator: It’s an interesting challenge that Bassano throws at us, indeed! Editor: It certainly is!