The French painter Henri Zo received his first painting lessons from his father, the famous genre painter and orientalist Achille Zo. He then developed into a celebrated genre and portrait painter and collaborated on a number of monumental wall paintings in Paris. From around 1890 he devoted himself to painting Spanish bullfights and elegant scenes, for which he made numerous studies, particularly in the Spanish Basque Country. He also worked as an illustrator of novels, including those by Pièrre Loti.