Upon the outbreak of WWII, Coldstream enlisted for the Royal Artillery at the start of July 1940, serving as a Camouflage Officer before being appointed, in April 1943, an Official Portrait Painter for the Middle East by the War Artists Advisory Committee headed by Kenneth Clark, a consistent advocate of his work. Coldstream spent the remainder of the war stationed at camps in Egypt and Italy. He was extremely unhappy during WWII for, in addition to the obvious stress of being at war and away from home, his first marriage broke down irreparably, with a divorce issued in 1943. Nonetheless, Coldstream produced a number of portraits of officers from across the Commonwealth which entered national collections including Subedar Jaggat Singh, 1943; Imperial War Museum, and views over military camps, Middle Eastern and southern European cities, and desert-scapes like Casualty Reception Station, Capua, 1944; Tate Gallery. Study of Solider Reading would likely have been carried out whilst Coldstream was stationed in Dover from August 1940 until the start of 1941, at a base guarding the coast in anticipation of an attack from mainland Europe. Coldstream depicts the comforting routines of snatched interludes of normality in a military compound as a seated soldier reads the newspaper with rapt attention. Coldstream, of necessity, works quickly, clearly delineating contours and then overlaying shading to suggest solidity and shadow. Details, such as the peaked beret, the pointed collar, the folds and creases of the trousers, add up to provide Coldstream’s idiosyncratic specificity. Aside from a brief early phase of painting from squared-up drawings, inspired by Sickert, Coldstream drew and painted directly from life, viewing each activity as separate rather than preparatory drawings as a prerequisite for painting. Occasionally, a pose would be tested through drawing but the impulse to recreate a fundamental essence underlying reality engendered a process of direct engagement with the subject.