SIR HERBERT JAMES GUNN, R.A. (BRITISH, 1893-1964)

Gunn studied at the Glasgow School Art and Edinburgh College of Art before moving to Paris in 1911 where he entered the Académie Julian. By 1929 he had established himself as a portrait painter and worked very successfully in this field, receiving commissions from prime ministers, leading literary figures as well as family portraits.

Indeed, when Gunn's three daughters from his first marriage were very young, they were often the subject of his paintings; depicted playing with their mother Gwendoline. However, following their divorce, Gunn was forced to focus on alternative subject matter. This portrait is particularly poignant, as it marks the first time Gunn painted the youngest of the three, Pauline, since her childhood.

Gunn waited to ask Pauline to sit for this portrait until 1952, when she was thirty and had children of her own. Despite Gunn and Pauline being estranged when she was growing up, this portrait marks the start of a relationship that was rebuilt in adulthood.