It’s unusual, dear reader, for anything painted as recently as 1943 to come into the public domain.
The copyright to this, however—Dame Laura Knight’s Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-Ring—belonged to the government of the United Kingdom, since it was made as a War Artists Advisory Committee commission, and so had a much shorter span.
As to the content of the painting, according to the Imperial War Museums, “[m]aking a Bofors Breech ring was considered the most highly skilled job in the factory, normally requiring eight or nine years training. Loftus was aged 21 at the time of the painting and had no previous factory experience.”
