This is a half-length portrait of Lieutenant (Engineer) Kidd standing, arms folded, in front of gauges and pipes. He is standing in three-quarter profile, looking out to the left hand side of the picture plane. His eyes are slightly narrowed and he has a pensive expression on his face, as though he is studying something carefully. He is dressed in uniform, the gold embroidery on his sleeves indicating his rank. Highlights around Kidd’s brow line and forehead illustrate the skilful and evocative way that the artist William Dring employed modelling in his pastel drawings. Kidd served on board submarine HMS 'Torbay'. [The original WAAC number is LD. 2475].

Dring (1904-90) earned his reputation as a fine draughtsman and portrait painter whilst studying under Henry Tonks at the Slade School of Art between 1922 and 1925. He worked as a teacher of drawing and painting at the Southampton School of Art until 1940 when he was employed by the War Artist Advisory Committee, first as official war artist to the Admiralty and later to the Air Ministry. He made a large number of portrait drawings of individuals and groups, all remarkable for their informality. Dring travelled extensively to complete his commissions. The drawing is always precise and carefully modelled using pastel, a medium in which he specialised, and which allowed him to capture the likeness and spirit of his subjects quickly and under a variety of circumstances,