Henry van Velthuysen was taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berkeley in the United States of America. He returned to Indonesia in 1905 where he worked as a painter of portraits and landscapes, designer of posters, art critic, teacher and draughtsman. In 1946 he left Indonesia and settled in The Hague. He has been exhibited many times in Jakarta and his work can be found in galleries such as: Museum voor Land, Volkenkunde in Rotterdam and Volkunding Museum, Nusantara in Delft.