Shoes

Although men's footwear tends to be rather plain compared to women's, it does have its decorative aspects, as is seen by the light colored suede and red heels on this pair of men's latchet shoes. The red heel was a popular aristocratic conceit, based on French court styles of the 17th century, and had come into general use by the 1770s. Although the original owner is not known, these shoes passed subsequently from Sir William Quiller Orchardson, R.A. (1832-1910) to his friend John Pettie, R.A. (1839-1893), both of whom were noted Scottish painters and who may well have used the shoes as models for their genre paintings.