The Adoration of the Magi
1303-1305
Fresco
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua
As in even the earliest images of the Adoration of the Magi, Mary sits on a throne and holds the swaddled baby on her lap, flanked by St. Joseph and an angel.
As had become common at the time, the Magi are pictured as representing the three ages of man. The eldest kneels before the child and has a gray beard; the middle-aged man stands behind him with a brown beard; and the youngest mage has no beard at all. Their status as kings is expressed by only one crown, which the first king has placed on the ground as a mark of his submission.
This is the earliest example I have seen of the first mage kissing the baby's toe. There is
another at Orvieto dated 1310-11. It may have been inspired either by this fresco or by a 13th-century source common to both.
Read more about images of the Adoration of the Magi.
Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.