Probably by Jacopo di Cione, 'Noli me tangere', about 1368-70

Noli me tangere

Probably by Jacopo di Cione

Not on display

About the work

Overview

This small picture shows Jesus Christ meeting Mary Magdalene after his resurrection. Mary can be identified by her red robes and long blonde hair. She had gone to Jesus‘ tomb to anoint his body but found it empty. When Jesus appeared, Mary tried to touch him, but he said ’Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father‘. The subject is based on the Latin translation of the Bible where Jesus’ words noli me tangere mean ‘do not touch me’.

The picture part of a large altarpiece, possibly painted for the chapel of Ognissanti (All Saints) in the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. The notary Franceschino di Berto degli Albizzi had left money in his will and wanted the monks to say prayers for his soul every November. This may explain the chapel’s dedication to All Saints' Day, celebrated on 1 November.

In-depth

This small wooden panel, probably painted by Jacopo di Cione, shows Jesus Christ meeting his disciple Mary Magdalene after his resurrection from the dead. We can identify Mary by her red robe and long blonde hair. The Gospel of John recounts that Mary went to anoint Jesus‘ body in his tomb but found it empty. She saw a man she thought was a gardener, but when he spoke her name, Mary realised that it was Christ. She tried to touch him, but he said ’Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father‘ (John, 20:17). In the Latin translation of the Gospel, Jesus used the words ’noli me tangere‘ which means ’do not touch me'. Here, the artist referenced Mary’s initial incorrect identification, showing Christ holding a gardening tool, a hoe.

The picture was a pinnacle panel in the uppermost part of a large polyptych, a multi-panelled altarpiece. Its original pointed shape with a curved top can only be partially seen, where the arch starts in the indented upper edges. The picture might have flanked another arch-shaped pinnacle showing The Crucifixion (The Robert Lehman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), where we can see a very similar figure of the Magdalene holding onto the cross. The polyptych also included Six Angels (The Robert Lehman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and the Virgin and Child with angels (Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest). Column-like structures, called pilasters, created the outer edges of the altarpiece and were probably decorated with The Littleton Saints. These six panels include the Blessed Paola and Blessed Silvestro, two members of the Camaldolese order who were buried in the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence.

The polyptych might have been painted for the chapel of Ognissanti (All Saints) in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. Originally, the chapel was dedicated to Mary Magdalene and Saint Lawrence. In 1365, a notary called Franceschino di Berto degli Albizzi left money to the church. He wanted the monks to say prayers for his soul every November. This might have prompted the monks to change the chapel’s dedication to All Saints’ Day which is celebrated on 1 November. Franceschino himself might have been portrayed in the predella, the altarpiece’s bottom tier with The Man of Sorrows with the Virgin, Saint John the Evangelist and a Donor (Denver Art Museum).

Key facts

Details

Full title: Noli me tangere
Artist: Probably by Jacopo di Cione
Artist dates: documented 1365; died 1398 -1400
Date made: about 1368-70
Medium and support: egg tempera on wood
Dimensions: 56 × 38.2 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by Henry Wagner, 1924
Inventory number: NG3894
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Stated to be from the Abate Casali’s collection in Florence. By 1857, Granville Edward Harcourt Vernon, Grove Hall, Nottinghamshire (d. 1861); 1861–4, Selina Catherine Meade Vernon Bidwell, Lady Hervey (by inheritance from her first husband Vernon; torn label on the back: G.E.H. Vernon Esq., M.P., Proprietor); 18 June 1864, Vernon sale, Christie’s, London (lot 275), as Taddeo Gaddi, bought by Charles Sackville Bale (d. 1880); 14 May 1881, Bale sale, Christie’s, London (lot 294), as Taddeo Gaddi, bought by Henry Wagner; presented to the National Gallery, 1924, by Henry Wagner (as Jacopo di Cione).

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Dillian Gordon, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400’, London 2011; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1911

R. Fry, 'Exhibition of Old Masters at the Grafton Galleries, I', The Burlington Magazine, XX, 1911, pp. 66-77
1929

National Gallery, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square: Catalogue, 86th edn, London 1929
1930

R. Offner and K. Steinweg, A Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting, 8 vols, New York 1930
1932

B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places, Oxford 1932
1936

R. Salvini, L'arte di Agnolo Gaddi, Florence 1936
1936

E.S. Vavalà, 'Review: R. Salvini, L'arte di Agnolo Gaddi, 1936', Art Bulletin, XVIII, 1936, pp. 422-3
1951

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
1966

F.R. Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, vol. 1, Italian Schools XIII-XV Century, London 1966
1968

F. Zeri, 'Sul catalogo dei dipinti toscani del secolo XIV nelle Gallerie di Firenze', Gazette des beaux-arts, LXXI, 1968
1972

M. Boskovits, 'Su Don Silvestro, Don Simone e la scuola degli Angeli', Paragone, CCLXV, 1972, pp. 35-61
1975

M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, Florence 1975
1986

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
1987

J. Pope-Hennessy, The Robert Lehman Collection, 1: Italian Paintings, New York 1987
1988

Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Italian Schools before 1400, revised edn, London 1988
1994

E.S. Skaug, Punch Marks from Giotto to Fra Angelico: Attribution, Chronology and Workshop Relationships in Tuscan Panel Painting, With Particular Consideration to Florence c.1330-1430, Oslo 1994
1994

A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
1997

J. Willats, Art and Representation: New Principles in the Analysis of Pictures, Princeton 1997
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2011

Gordon, Dillian, National Gallery Catalogues: The Italian Paintings before 1400, London 2011

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

More works by Jacopo di Cione

(Showing 6 of 19 works)

The Crucifixion

Jacopo di Cione

This picture is unusual in Italian painting of this period in showing so much detail from the Gospel accounts of Christ’s crucifixion in one relatively small panel. Such images were usually reserved for large wall paintings. Christ is shown on the Cross between the two thieves who were crucified...

Not on display

Adoring Saints: Left Main Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

The saints arranged here neatly in rows are looking towards the central panel of the complex, four-tiered altarpiece that this picture comes from, which shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary. This scene is mirrored on a panel on the other side of the central image. Together, these three panels to...

Not on display

Adoring Saints: Right Main Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

The saints arranged neatly in rows look towards the central panel – which shows Christ crowning the Virgin Mary – of the four-tiered altarpiece that this picture comes from. A panel on the other side of the central image mirrors the scene here. Together, these three panels formed the main level o...

Not on display

Blessed Paola

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Blessed Silvestro

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Pentecost: Upper Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

At Pentecost, after Christ’s death, his disciples were imbued with the Holy Ghost, shown here as a dove. Tongues of fire appeared on their heads and they were able to speak multiple languages.The disciples are seated in a circle in the upper storey of a house, with the Virgin Mary and Saint Peter...

Not on display

Saint Anthony Abbot

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Saint John the Evangelist

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Saint Luke

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Saint Peter Damian

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

Not on display

Seraphim, Cherubim and Adoring Angels

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This is one of two panels, almost mirror images of each other, that flank either side of the central and uppermost panel of the large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence.Gathered together against a completely gold backdrop representing heaven are groups of angelic beings...

Not on display

Seraphim, Cherubim and Adoring Angels

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This is one of two panels, almost mirror images of one another, that flank either side of the central and uppermost panel of the large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence.Gathered together against a completely gold backdrop representing heaven are groups of angelic being...

Not on display

The Adoration of the Kings: Upper Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This panel is the second in a series of scenes of the life of Christ, part of a multi-panelled altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. This sequence ran above the altarpiece’s main tier, which showed the coronation of the Virgin surrounded by adoring saints.We see three kin...

Not on display

The Ascension: Upper Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This panel, which comes from an altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, belongs to a sequence of narrative scenes showing events from Christ’s birth, the Resurrection and Ascension. These sat above the three panels of the main tier showing the coronation of the Virgin sur...

Not on display

The Coronation of the Virgin: Central Main Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This is the central panel of a large altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore, Florence. Christ crowns the Virgin, after her body and soul have been taken up to heaven. This was an important moment: it established the Virgin’s role as an intercessor to whom believers could address thei...

Not on display

The Nativity with the Annunciation to the Shepherds

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This panel was the first in a series showing scenes from Christ’s life, the Resurrection and his ascension to heaven and was part of a four-tiered altarpiece made for the Florentine church of San Pier Maggiore. These panels sat above the main tier of images showing the heavenly coronation of the...

Not on display

The Resurrection: Upper Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

The Roman soldiers who have been posted to guard Christ’s tomb from grave robbers have fallen asleep. Christ has risen from his grave and is shown above his tomb holding a white flag with a red cross, a symbol of the Resurrection. The lid of the tomb is still closed, emphasising the miracle of th...

Not on display

The Three Marys at the Sepulchre: Upper Tier Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This panel comes from an altarpiece made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence, and belongs to a sequence of narrative scenes showing events from Christ’s birth, the Resurrection and his ascension to heaven. They appeared above the three panels of the main tier, which show the coronatio...

Not on display

The Trinity: Central Pinnacle Panel

Jacopo di Cione and workshop

This was once the central and uppermost part of a multi-panelled altarpiece, made for the church of San Pier Maggiore in Florence. Although it would have been displayed very high, right at the top of this large altarpiece, the limited colours, bold shapes and simple design mean it would have been...

Not on display

You've viewed 6 of 19 works

Probably by Jacopo di Cione, 'Noli me tangere', about 1368-70

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Jacopo di Cione