Henry Jean Pontoy was a French painter remembered as one of the last proponents of Neoclassical Orientalism. His best-known works depict urban North African scenes populated by local people and architecture rendered in warm, vibrant oil paint and watercolor. His interest in Orientalist themes followed his awarding of a scholarship from the Colonial Society of French Artists in 1926, which funded his travel to North and West Africa, in particular Tunisia and Morocco. Born in Reims, France on February 5, 1888, his work was included in several major exhibitions before his death in 1968, including an exhibition in Oran in 1925, and the Algerian artists Orientalist Salon in 1933 Algiers.