Eric Ravilious was an English painter, designer, book illustrator, and wood engraver who studied at the Royal College of Art under Paul Nash. His early work evoked the sense of the English countryside, as well as urban scenes of London, capturing a strong sense of national identity in the interwar period. During World War II, he was appointed an official war artist but tragically died in 1942, aged 39, during an air-sea rescue mission off the coast of Iceland.