Touch/Tastinn/Toucher

This narrative from the Gospel of John is sometimes referred to by the Latin phrase “Noli me tangere;” the resurrected Jesus tells Mary Magdalen not to touch him as he has not yet ascended to heaven, and she should announce his resurrection to the Apostles. 

The lack of touch here contrasts with the medium of the artwork. Renaissance woodcuts relied on touch throughout the making process: first, the initial drawing is made directly on the block or transferred from paper with a stylus; second, the woodblock would then be cut away leaving a relief; third, ink is applied to the surface with a dauber; lastly, the final paper would be applied to the inked block and put into the printing press to transfer the design.¹ While the Magdalen was ordered not to touch, the owner of such a woodcut would appreciate the biblical narrative with both sight and touch.

M.R.P.

¹ “Woodcut,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, 9 January 2022, https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/printmaking/woodcut

Touch is, perhaps, the most foreign sense for modern audiences because our interaction with art in museums is contingent on our agreement not to touch the art. However, many objects have their origins in tactile interaction. Books of Hours, like this one from Toul, France, were held multiple times a day as their owners recited their daily prayers. The illumination here shows some color decay in the area of the Virgin’s belly, where the touch of her cousin Elizabeth sparked the recognition of Christ. This delicate deterioration could indicate the touch of the book’s original owner, trying to recreate that holy spark. A religious movement known as the Modern Devotion was popular during the thirteen and fourteen hundreds. Devotees were encouraged to embody the emotional and physical sensations of holy figures during prayer.

J.S.