The stylistic signature of Gregorio De Ferrari is revealed with particular elegance and refinement in this splendid painting, which can be dated around 1690. The artist has respected the most traditional iconography to depict this episode of the Gospel of John, which tells the moment when, after the Resurrection, Jesus meets at the tomb Magdalene who was weeping and refuses the embrace of the woman, who would like to hold him. The sacred subject, deprived of its solemn and miraculous character, is proposed in a new worldly and sensual key, which transforms the encounter between Jesus and the Magdalene in a carefree and almost gallant moment; an interpretation far removed from the models established by the traditional iconography of the Counter-Reformation.Christ is caught in an elegant and artificial pose, harmonized with the oblique course of the composition; the gesture of the hand of Mary Magdalene is matched by that of Christ, while the thick drapery of her dress corresponds to the vaporous mantle of him.
In this work, which preludes to the results of the rococo, the artist reveals how his way has been conditioned by the example of Correggio, with the modeled soft and soft and the delicate tonalism of the landscape played on a palette that favors pastel colors. The canvas also has a pendant - also in the Musei di Strada Nuova - depicting Tobias and the angel, made by his son Lorenzo.