Touch Me Not (cell 1)

This fresco by Fra Angelico in cell 1 of the San Marco Monastery illustrates the encounter between Mary Magdalen and Christ after the ressurection. It is an example of Fra Angelico's use of a limited palette, and use of the landscape as much as the figures to convey the scene.

He uses delicate linear perspective, naturalistic light, and calm, devotional mood, a hallmarks of early Florentine Renaissance art. The scene here is serene, infused with clarity, soft color, and spiritual light. Christ, in luminous white robes, stands before Mary Magdalene, who kneels before him in reverence. Behind them is a simple, idealized landscape of trees, meadow, and the rocky entrance of the tomb.

The gesture of Christ holding Mary back embodies the words “Noli me tangere” (“Touch me not.)” Symbolically, the garden setting recalls Christ as the “New Adam.”, and the wheat field in the background symbolizes resurrection and spiritual rebirth.

Angelico stood at a transitional point between the Gothic spiritual idealism and the Renaissance naturalism that would flourish in Florence. His “Noli me tangere” exemplifies the early use of perspective and spatial coherence, gentle modeling of light and color, and the fusion of artistic beauty with monastic devotion, his frescoes at San Marco were intended for quiet contemplation by Dominican friars.