Sister Sky

This painting is an allegory that tells a story: the Ancient Egyptian Goddess of the Sky, Nut, forms a protective arch over the 17th century woman astronomer who is gazing at Saturn through an early telescope. She is Galileo’s daughter, the Catholic nun Suor Celeste, whose name in Italian means Sister Sky.

On the shore is an old and still-living tree that was once cut down by humans; a small new branch with 4 green leaves tells us the tree is still alive, a sign of hope for our planet Earth.

Beyond the Milky Way, a million miles from Earth, is the James Webb Space Telescope launched in 2021 and showing us what the universe looked like near the time of its birth.