“Do not hold on to me,” Jesus told her, “because I have not yet gone back up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am returning to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.” (John 20,17)
Alexander Ivanov went to Italy in 1830 and since 1831 settled in Rome. He traveled all over Italy a lot studying the masterpieces of art. During his first years he painted Apollo, Hyacinth and Cypariss Singing and Playing Music and The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene, which were greatly appreciated by his contemporaries and approved by his sponsors in St. Petersburg.
The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene (1835) was warmly welcomed in St Petersburg and won Ivanov the title of Academician. The artist himself, however, was not happy with the painting, referring to it as merely a "corn-cob." Yet in a fascinating preparatory drawing for it, he conveyed Mary's feelings in a freer and more natural manner.
