The Madonna and Child with Saints

This work was painted for the high altar, dedicated to the Magdalen, in the Francesco de Strata chapel in the church of S. Paolo in Vercelli. In the middle distance Christ appears as a gardener to Saint Mary Magdalen on the morning after the Resurrection, but tells her not to touch him ('noli me tangere') (John 20: 14-18). Saint Paul holds a paper with an inscription from his letter to the Romans (Romans 5: 1).

It was commissioned in 1540 by Francesco de Strata. The altarpiece originally had a predella depicting six events from the life and conversion of the Magdalen; this has not been traced.