Flemish school, after Jan Brueghel II (1601-1678): Noli me tangere, oil on canvas, 17th C.

Work: 119,5 x 78 cm

Frame: 125,3 x 83 cm

Paintings with the 'Noli me tangere' theme, also known as 'Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene as a gardener', were very popular. According to Dr. K. Ertz, especially Jan Brueghel II needs to be honoured for this topic: 'Detaching himself from the meticulous and detailed brushwork of his earlier years, which he had adopted from his father, he finally introduced his own pictorial inventions. Although many inspirations for the son’s paintings derived from his father’s work, the painting suggests that it was Jan Brueghel the Younger himself who developed this compositional type on the basis of his father’s achievements' (link). This representation (and the mirror image) was also spread through numerous prints: link (after Rubens) and link (after Rubens). An early 17th-C. painted version  (surroundings of Rubens) is part of the Rijksmuseum Collection (link).