Sir James Guthrie

One of Scotland's most popular artists James Guthrie was born in Greenock in 1859. Though he displayed a talent for drawing, his father intended him for the bar and he received little orthodox art training. However, he did study for a time in London and intended to follow this up with a period at one of the académies in Paris, but he met John Pettie, the painter of historical and costume subjects, who advised him to defer his visit to the Continenent and offered to supervise his work. Instead Guthrie returned to Scotland, where he painted his first major painting, A Funeral Service in the Highlands (Glasgow Art Gallery and Museums), which was bought from the artist by the Aberdeen collector, John Forbes White.