16th Century

Van Dyck's grand equestrian portrait shows Charles I in full armour on a white horse, passing beneath a triumphal arch as his riding master carries his helmet. Painted for the English court, it became the defining image of royal Stuart style — and the inspiration for this boot's opulent, gold-embroidered velvet cuff

Van Dyck's grand equestrian portrait shows Charles I in full armour on a white horse, passing beneath a triumphal arch as his riding master carries his helmet. Painted for the English court, it became the defining image of royal Stuart style — and the inspiration for this boot's opulent, gold-embroidered velvet cuff

This 19th-century painting imagines a meeting between Raphael and Bernard van Orley, two of the Renaissance's leading painters, in a sculptor's studio surrounded by classical statuary. The flat, buckled slippers with slashed toes worn in the scene became the defining footwear silhouette of the early 16th-century studio and court.

A young King Louis XIII stands in gold armor as the winged figure of Victory crowns him with a laurel wreath, discarded helmets and swords scattered at his feet. Painted in Rubens's workshop, this royal allegory inspired the deep red cuff and wrapped strap of this boot.