James F. Gilman (1850-1929) was born in Massachusetts and died in Westborough, Massachusetts. He worked as a painter and much of his life was spent living in and painting towns in Vermont and Massachusetts. He was known for his New England landscapes, particularly those focusing on farms and New England life during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1884 he became interested in Christian Science, and in 1892, he met Mary Baker Eddy in Concord, New Hampshire. He drew several portraits of Eddy, and the following year she invited him to illustrate her poem, "Christ and Christmas." He joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 29, 1894. That same year he co-published with H. E. Carlton Pleasant View: Twenty Plates of the Home Surroundings of Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, a book of engravings and photographs of the interior and exterior of Pleasant View, Eddy's home in New Hampshire where she lived from 1892 to 1908. He also designed and published an annual Christian Science calendar for the years 1901, 1902, and 1903. Gilman was listed as a practitioner in the directory of The Christian Science Journal from 1896 through 1905. In 1913 he moved to Orange, Massachusetts, where he was instrumental in organizing a Christian Science Society in neighboring Athol. Gilman eventually drifted away from Christian Science and devoted himself to his artwork until his passing.

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