Pietro da Cortona (Pietro Berrettini) (1596 Cortona - 1669 Rome) Successor Noli me tangere Christ appears as a gardener to Mary Magdalene kneeling before him near the empty tomb, making her the first witness and herald of the resurrection (John 20:11-18). Delicately painted depiction after the famous painting by Pietro da Cortona, created around 1640-1650, which has been in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg since 1779 (acquired from the important collection of the first British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole in Houghton Hall) and was also published in an English mezzotint engraving in 1781. Pietro da Cortona is considered the founder of Roman High Baroque painting. Oil on canvas; 58 cm x 50 cm. Frame. Follower of Pietro da Cortona (1596 - 1669). Oil on canvas.