Henri Émilien Rousseau (17 December 1875, Cairo – 28 March 1933, Aix-en-Provence) was a French painter, graphic artist and illustrator; best known for his Orientialist scenes featuring horses and riders.
He was the eldest of nine children born to Léon Rousseau (1840-1911), an engineer who participated in the construction of the Suez Canal and, when Henri was three, became the General Director of Public Works for the Khedive, Isma'il Pasha.
[1] His family left Cairo after the Anglo-Egyptian War, returned to France and, in 1885, settled in Versailles.
[2] In 1894, he decided to pursue a career in the arts and, with a recommendation from Jean-Léon Gérôme, whom his father had met while in Egypt, he was enrolled at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
[5] Displeased with city life in Paris, he moved his family to Aix-en-Provence in 1919, where he joined the Félibrige (an Occitan cultural organization) and became Vice-President of the local art academy in 1932.