In about 1899 he went to Paris to study under William-Adolphe Bouguereau at the Académie Julian, but the dismal and crowded atelier with its smell of tobacco smoke, stove-oil and human sweat did not please him, and after three months he returned to Scotland.

[3] In 1893 his sister Mabel married William Nicholson, four years after the two had met while studying at Hubert Herkomer's school of art in Bushey, in Hertfordshire.

In the same year Pryde and Nicholson formed the Beggarstaff partnership, which lasted until 1899, and produced innovative poster designs and signboards.

Ellen Terry's son Edward Gordon Craig, with whom Pryde toured Scotland in 1895, described 'Jimmy' as 'one of the best painters who ever lived' and 'one of the biggest hearts on earth'.

Yes, I think he got much 'inspiration' from the boards – and the thought and feel of it all, as of a magical place ...[5]He was an associate of the International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers from 1901 and vice-president in 1921.

[9] His work as a painter received little subsequent attention until 1992, when an exhibition was held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh.