to accept the 75 guinea fee, but only if it could be painted in her studio. The WAAC responded that, although they were grateful that she was working at a much lower level of fees than her pre-war rates, the policy was that all work commissioned was "on a virtually fixed scale of fees irrespective of the status of the artist". The committee added that as Loftus was too valuable to be released from the factory, they would agree to Knight's 100 guinea request; she travelled to Newport, Wales, to paint the portrait in situ over three weeks. The work was completed by the end of March. Loftus and her family moved to South Wales after their home in Golders Green, London was bombed. She was employed by the Royal Ordnance Factory in Newport (ROF Newport), having previously been an assistant at a tobacconist's shop in Finchley, London. In 1943 she was 21 years old and engaged to John Green, a corporal in the 11th Hussars. Loftus had no prior experience of heavy machinery or the industrial workplace, but she became highly skilled in seven months in making the breech-ring of the Bofors anti-aircraft gun. This was the most complex task at ROF Newport and any lack of precision in forming the breech-ring could result in the gun being destroyed when fired; the task was normally assigned to a worker with up to nine years' experience. Description Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech-ring is an oil painting on canvas measuring . It is one of the largest pictures of the wartime commissions, and the largest of the single-figure portraits they acquired. The painting is in the realist style; the cultural historian Gillian Whiteley considers the painting resembles the works of the Soviet socialist realists, and provides "an authoritative, optimistic, heroic and popular inspirational image". The picture shows Loftus, bent over the lathe, which is in the act of cutting the screw of the breech. Her fingers rest on the machinery as she concentrates on the work she is doing. According to the cultural historian Barbara Morden, Ruby Loftus is similar to other works by Knight in showing a female worker focused on her work. The art historian Catherine Speck writes that Loftus's feminine features and clean hands "affirm the temporary nature of ... [Loftus's] work 'for the duration' " of the war; in this way the painting feels to Speck more