Giotto (attrib.), Noli Me Tangere
13th century
Fresco
Lower Basilica, Basilica of San Francesco
Assisi, Italy
Some scholars question the attribution to Giotto, which relies on the fresco's close similarity to his Noli Me Tangere in the Arena Chapel. The two are among the less common Noli me tangere images that include the two angels sitting inside the tomb. John 20:11-12: "But Mary stood at the sepulchre without, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre and she saw two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been laid."
The "garden" setting is signified by the flowering bushes around Mary Magdalene. Jesus holds a mattock in his left hand, a sign that he is the "gardener" who has planted the seeds of virtue in the woman.
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Read more about images of the Resurrection and of St. Mary Magdalene
Photographed at the site by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.