Who could not be moved by the journey of a tiny craft across the sea of space to land on a pinprick of an island that is Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko?

The achievement is a miracle of mathematics, of diligent, understated academic collaboration. Of quiet industry akin to the early monks transcribing the gospels by candlelight… But what was found is also miraculous in a different way, in that the more we look the closer we glimpse the divine – as one who peers through a crack in the farm door and occasions on the Annunciation.

What was found on Comet 67P is as stupendous as the effort to achieve it. My picture is a response of gratitude to all at the ESA, as well as a being a simple hymn to the Virgin.

Virgin of Philae

Acrylic on canvas (60x84cm)
BUY

This work features in the 2016 Rosetta Art Tribute courtesy of the European Space Agency.