Despite the lowly surroundings of the stable, where the Virgin Mary sits humbly on the ground, the eldest of the magi kisses the feet of the Christ Child in veneration. Although not included in St Mathew's story (the only gospel relating the visit of the magi), the kissing of the Child's feet was a motif adopted from the late 13th century onwards, influenced by Franciscan piety. In the popular early 14th century text the Meditationes Vitae Christi, the gospel story of the Adoration of the Magi was embellished to include this motif:
The Magi..dismounted, entered and knelt impulsively before the Boy, adoring Jesus reverently, honouring him as king and worshipping him as God... ..and with reverence and devotion they kissed his feet.
In Tuscany, the kissing of the Christ Child's foot occurs for the first time in Nicola Pisano's pulpit (1265-68) in the Duomo, Siena; later in Siena it is found in a scene in Duccio's Maesta (fig.1). The earliest example by a Florentine artist is in Giotto's fresco (fig.2) in the Arena Chapel, Padua; other Florentine examples include Taddeo Gaddi's fresco in S.Croce and in his sacristy-press panel in the Accademia, Florence. Whereas in the Sienese examples the Christ Child sits on the Virgin's knees whilst the magus kisses his toes, in the Florentine examples the Virgin holds the Child out below her knees, a position which seems peculiar to Florence.
