Painter, born in Glasgow, Scotland who studied at Glasgow School of Art, Edinburgh College of Art and at the Académie Julian in Paris under J.P. Laurens. His life as a painter was interrupted by World War I, in which he lost two brothers, and he enlisted with the Artists' Rifles in 1915 being commissioned into the 10th (Scottish) Rifles in 1917. James Gunn as he was known exhibited at RA, RSA, Paris Salon and elsewhere. Elected an Associate of the RA, 1953, and RA, 1961, RSW, 1930 and was also President of the Society of Portrait Painters. He painted the State Portrait of HM Queen Elizabeth II in her 1953 coronation robes and was knighted in 1963. The SNPG held a retrospective exhibition in 1994.

His work is in the collections of Aberdeen Art Gallery, Cartwright Hall Museum, City of Edinburgh Art Collection, Dundee University, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, GAC, Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, Hunterian, IWM, Jersey Heritage, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Museums Sheffield, National Museums Liverpool, NMM, National Museums Northern Ireland, NMW, NPG, National Trust, Plymouth Art Gallery, Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Rochdale Arts & Heritage Service, Slade School, SNPG and the Tate Gallery.

With thanks to artbiogs.co.uk

^{Biography from Liss Llewellyn}