Carl Julius Hermann Schroder (1802-1867) was a genre painter and portraitist, trained at the Academy Schools in Dresden, whose career was largely confined to Munich.

A young boy stands beside a stone doorway in a cobbled street. Dressed in a cap and apron he looks down to admire the shining black Hessian-style boot with which he has replaced his own, coarser brown shoe, which he holds in his left hand. Tucked under his right arm is the second, polished boot.