This scene depicts Christ's first appearance after resurrection. The title means touch me not," which Christ said to Mary Magdalene, adding the phrase, "For 1 have not yet ascended to my Father" (John 20.16-17). His  words have startled her, because she had believed that he was the gardener. The original of this panel was part of the Maesta or Virgin in Majesty, a massive altarpiece designed for the Cathedral of Siena, a city-state whose patron saint was the Virgin

Text by Robert Gerwing.
Copyright 2004.