1747 Shoes
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A pair of shoes in ivory silk damask.
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One of the shoes from the side
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Detail of the side of one of the shoes
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The back of the shoes
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The top of one shoe with the straps open
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The sole of one of the shoes
Description
A pair of shoes.in ivory silk damask.
They are hand stitched and made straight, that is without any difference between left and right; the sole is made of pale brown leather much darkened on the toes and heels from wear. There is a rand, a strip of white leather between the vamp and the sole.
The shoes are lined with natural linen, and the sock is tan leather, strips of white kid leather run round inside the upper above the sock widening from nothing near the heel to 1" at the ball of the foot and meeting a cone of stiff leather in the toe. The top edges are bound with ivory silk ribbon, ½" wide and this also covers the seams between the vamp and the quarters.The 2¼" high Louis heel is covered with the damask.
A piece of silver braid, 2" wide and now very tarnished, covers the front of the vamp from the toe to the top of the tab, with a ¼" wide scalloped edging each side; similar braid, 1" wide, covers the seam at the back of the quarters, with the same scalloped edging, and this also goes down the back of the heel.
The shoes would have been fastened by the straps passing through buckles, which would be removed when the shoes were taken off, and kept separately; the 1740 Shoe buckles are similar to what might have been worn.
The shoes are in reasonable condition, although they show signs of being much worn.
Contemporary illustrations
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Detail from Marriage à la Mode 2: The Tête à Tête by William Hogarth, 1743. National Gallery.
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Detail from Conversation in a Park by Thomas Gainsborough, 1746. Louvre Museum
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History
The shoes had been passed down in the family of Julie Wennell who has gifted them to the Hopkins Collection. They were the wedding shoes of an ancestor, and the note which came with them states:
My Grandmother's wedding shoes who was married 29 June 1747.
Elizabeth Fothergill
and a piece of the dress - since dyed.
From Julie Wennell:
The Fothergill shoes, as they have always been known, were gifted to me by my father, whose mother Margaret was the daughter of Lydia Fothergill (1856-1937)