The Dutch painter Willem de Famars Testas was a pupil of Jacobus Everhardus Josephus van den Berg (1802–1861) (Bénézit, 2006, p. 446). He studied at the Akademie van beeldende kunsten in the Hague during the years 1853–1854.
Between 1858 and 1860 Willem de Famars Testas undertook a trip to Egypt as a member of an expedition led by the French Egyptologist Émile Prisse d'Avennes (De Hond, 2013, p. 69); an expedition which the photographer Édouard Jarrot (1835–1873) also accompanied (De Hond, 2013, p. 71). The expedition was intended to provide material for the publication of two illustrated books, one on Pharaonic art (Histoire de l'art égyptien) and the other on Arab art (L'Art arabe) (De Hond, 2013, p. 69). Although only one of the 200 lithographs in L'Art arabe was signed by Testas, it is assumed that many more illustrations are related to sketches or studies by Testas (De Hond, 2013, pp. 78–79).
In 1868 he undertook another journey through Egypt, Palestine and Syria with Jean-Léon Gérôme. The journey began with a visit to Cairo and its surroundings, then proceeded to cross the Sinai in a caravan and travel to Jerusalem via the Monastery of St. Catherine and the ruined city of Petra. From there, they made a journey to Damascus, where they took the stagecoach to Beirut, the terminus of the expedition for most of them. The journey from Cairo to Beirut had lasted about four months (De Hond, 2013, p. 70).