Greenock-born Guthrie abandoned a prospective career in the law to follow his muse to Brig O'Turk where, with Joseph Crawhall and E. A. Walton, he settled to painting. He found his subject matter in the everyday life of the community around him, producing such masterpieces as A Highland Funeral. Moving to Berwickshire in the early 1880s, he continued his studies of rustic life in his by now characteristically progressive and innovative style.

The success of his work drew him increasingly into the bosom of the artistic establishment (becoming president of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1902) and subsequently abandoned his radical approaches, concentrating latterly on more conventional portraiture.