Jean François PORTAELS (1818-1895) was a Belgian orientalist painter. He was also the director of the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Jean Portaels was an extremely prolific and professional artist. He loved making huge oil paintings adorning the walls of St Jacques-sur-Caudenberg; biblical scenes, such as The Daughter of Sion Reviled (in the Brussels Gallery), The Death of Judas, The Magi travelling to Bethlehem and The Drought in Judaea; genre pictures, such as A Box in the Theatre at Budapest (Brussels Gallery), portraits of officials and of high society, Oriental scenes and. He also loved to draw and paint beautiful pictures of exotic female figures and exotic life.
