Adoration of the Magi (Giotto)

Wise men from the East, following a star, came to honor the newborn Christ with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:1-12). Giotto shows the eldest king kneeling to take the Child, while above the stable streaks a blazing comet - Giotto had watched Halley's Comet cross the sky in 1301 and painted the Star of Bethlehem as a comet, the first artist known to do so. From his fresco cycle in the Arena Chapel at Padua, the scene grounds the miracle in homely weight: the old king's careful hands, the Virgin steadying her son.