William Dring RA (1904-1990) studied at the Slade between 1922 and 1925, where he won several prizes and scholarships. He taught drawing and painting at the Southampton School of Art until 1942 and In the late 1920s Dring was commissioned by the architects Edwin Lutyens and Albert Edward Richardson to paint a number of murals. At the start of the Second World War Dring completed several portrait commissions for the War Artists’ Advisory Committee, WAAC. In early 1942 he resigned from Southampton School of Art to work on a full-time contract for the Committee, specialising in Admiralty portraits, several of which are now in he Imperial War Museum. Dring’s post-war career included notable portraits including portraits of members of the Royal Family. Dring was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Watercolour Society and at the Royal Academy. He became an associate member of the RA in 1944 and a full academician in 1955.