James Guthrie

1859 – 1930

Scottish painter. He originally enrolled at Glasgow University to study law but in 1877 his father, a member of the Scottish clergy, allowed him to train as a painter under James Drummond (1816-1877). In 1878 he began work in John Pettie's (1839-1893) studio in London where he was encouraged to produce academic history and genre paintings. Every summer from 1878 to 1881, however, Guthrie returned to Scotland to paint landscapes alongside Joseph Crawhall (1861-1913) and Edward Arthur Walton. He was influenced by the work of Jean-François Millet and the Barbizon school and in the spring of 1882 completed his first major realist painting, Funeral Service in the Highlands (Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow). In 1882 he went to Paris, where he discovered plein-air painting and changed to a freer and brighter style, influenced by Bastien-Lepage. In 1885 he decided to give up painting after plein-air studies in Berwickshire but in 1888 he was persuaded by a cousin to paint a portrait of his father. With the exception of a few landscape in pastel, this was the start of a new and important career as a portrait painter. In his style he was influenced by his friend Whistler. Between 1902 and 1919, he was president of the Royal Scottish Academy.

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