Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene ("Noli Me Tangere")

Textiles

1485/1500

Southern Netherlands, possibly Brussels

This small-scale devotional tapestry depicts the Noli me tangere theme: Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection and counseling her “Touch me not.” Textiles featuring this motif were popular during the 15th and 16th centuries with wealthy patrons throughout Western Europe. Household inventories suggest that images of Mary Magdalene held a special appeal for noblewomen.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Textiles

Title: Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene ("Noli Me Tangere")
Place: Belgium (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1485–1500
Medium: Wool, silk, and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk, slit tapestry weave with some 2:2 interlacing in alternate alignment of some gilt-metal-strip-wrapped silk wefts
Inscriptions: Inscription: NOLI ME TANGERE (Do not touch me)
Dimensions: 111.2 × 111.5 cm (43 3/4 × 43 7/8 in.)
Credit Line: Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson
Reference Number: 1937.1098
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/25960/manifest.json

La Collection Spitzer (Paris, 1890) volume I, 160 ff, no. 3.
Spitzer 1893, lot 396.
Helen Churchill Candee, The Tapestry Book (New York: Tudor Publishing, 1935), 59-60 (ill.).
Christa Charlotte Mayer, Masterpieces of Western Textiles from The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1969), 29, plate 13, 35 (ill.).
Asselbergs 1971, no. 6.
Lupo 1990, p. 259.
Bennet 1992, 72.
Cavallo 1993, 449.
Koenraad Brosens, editor, Christa C. Mayer Thurman, general editor, European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago, exh. cat., [exhibition: “The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries in the Art Institute of Chicago”] (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2008) 44-48, cat. 3.
Cleland 2011, no. 3.16.

Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpieces of Western Textiles, Jan. 25-Mar. 2, 1969.
Art Institute of Chicago, Tapestries from the Permanent Collection, Jun. 30-Sept. 30, 1979.
Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, European Textile Masterpieces from Coptic Times through the 19th Century, Sept. 27, 1989-Jan. 22, 1990.
Art Institute of Chicago, Alsdorf Gallery, Department of European Decorative Arts, May 24, 1996.
Art Institute of Chicago, Alsdorf Gallery, Department of European Decorative Arts, Jun. 26-Dec. 28, 2000.
Art Institute of Chicago, Regenstein Hall, The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestry, Nov. 1, 2008–Jan. 4, 2009.
Art Institute of Chicago, Deering Family Galleries, Sept. 27, 2018-Sept. 4, 2019.

Frédéric Spitzer (died 1890), Paris, to 1890 [Spitzer Collection, catalogue no. 3]; sold, Chevallier and Mannheim, Paris, Spitzer sale, Apr. 17–June 16, 1893, lot 396, to Marin A. Ryerson (died 1932), Chicago [by proxy]; by descent to his wife, Caroline Ryerson (also Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson, born Hutchinson, died 1937), Chicago [on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago from 1933, loan number 213.33]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1937.

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Currently Off View

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene ("Noli Me Tangere")

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Department

Title

Place

Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Medium

Inscriptions

Dimensions

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Reference Number

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.