1917: Royal Academy, statuette, plaster ref no. 1665, another cast.
1904: Special Inaugural Exhibition of Pictures by British and Foreign Artists, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.
1903: Royal Academy, statuette, bronze, ref no. 1729, another cast.

Anon, The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts: The One Hundred and Forty-Ninth (London: Clowes and Sons Limited, 1917), p. 55, another cast.
C. Bernard Stevenson, Catalogue of the Special Inaugural Exhibition of Pictures by British and Foreign Artists (Newcastle: Laing Art Gallery, 1904), p.126, another cast.
Anon, The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts: The One Hundred and Thirty-Fifth (London: William Clowes and Sons Limited, 1904), p. 60, another cast.

Hamo Thornycroft (1850-1925) was the son of two prominent sculptors – Thomas and Mary Francis – whose time as a child in their studio inspired him also to pursue a career as a sculptor, despite his father's opposition. Thornycroft trained in his parents' studio before enrolling at the Royal Academy Schools in 1869, and at which time he was instructed by Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) whose influence on his work is evident in his public sculptures and statuettes. A trip to Italy in 1871 transformed Thornycroft's style from neo-classicism to the realism and naturalism of the New Sculpture Movement, under which his creativity and popularity flourished. Over the course of the next decade Thornycroft's sculpture achieved great success and established his position as Britain's leading sculptor.

He first exhibited at the Royal Academy at the tender age of twenty two, showing a marble bust entitled Professor Sharpey (ref. no. 1558), a renowned physiologist, and a marble relief listed as Mrs Mordant (ref. no. 1571). The Mower (1882-1884) is regarded as Thornycroft's masterpiece and is considered to be the first life-size sculpture of a labouring man in Britain, representing the move towards depicting scenes of everyday life by the New Sculpture artists. The Mower was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884 (ref. no. 1856) to significant critical acclaim. Throughout his career, Thornycroft completed a huge body of work in his lifetime, including public memorials and monuments; architectural sculptures, including reliefs and friezes; small bronze and marble work.

Thornycroft's The Sandal was originally conceived as part of a larger series of at least fifteen small statuettes, which were listed by him in 1901 and were to consist of all female nudes of around ten inches or slightly less in height. These sculptures satisfied Thornycroft's creative choices as much as they fulfilled a role in the burgeoning domestic market for art works that were affordable and met the demands of the New Sculpture Movement.