Paints of many colours

SIR WILLIAM NICHOLSON’s 1920 painting of Gertrude Jekyll’s gardening boots is in Tate; it should really be in the National Portrait Gallery, together with his portrait of her of the same year. It is said that he occupied himself with the boots when hanging around for the late-afternoon sitting, which is all that she grudgingly allowed him. Like van Gogh’s similar footwear subjects, these are as full of their owner’s gnarly character as a formal portrait.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to say anything about the character of. The 21¾in by 23½in painting was titled  , but Nicholson probably knew no more about them. The pair of elastic-sided, red patent-leather boots for town walking came from his own costume box, but the soft white kid-leather pair for indoors he had found in a charity or junk shop and it was one of these that had Miss Simpson written inside it.