Historical shoes

Wellingborough Preparatory School, Northamptonshire

Year 4 (8 and 9 year-olds)

As Northampton is the home of the British shoe industry, the students decided to study the shoes in Renoir's painting. They visited the world’s largest shoe collection at our local museum, where they tried on original shoes from the 1880s. The children were shocked by how small and narrow they were and learnt that this largely reflected the population's poor diet.

The museum lent the students a box of shoes. Back at school, they first made pencil drawings of the shoes, which they then worked over with drawing ink. Coloured pencils were used to add tone and the children's knowledge of colour theory helped them to create a 3D effect.

Julia Hennessy (Head of Art)

© Wellingborough Preparatory School. Photo: The National Gallery, London.