Hendrik Samuel Schouten is born in Amsterdam and lived his life at the Jagtlust plantation Paramaribo in Suriname where he was a planter. He was a Dutch literary and important member of the honorary society of De Surinaamse Lettervrienden.

Schouten made a unique three-dimensional diorama that depicts Caribbean Indians in their natural environment at the river. The Indians exposed in a way that looks very real, the work is even laced with twigs and dried moss. This is the only known diorama by Hendrik Schouten. His older brother Gerrit Schouten (1779-1839) became a well-known artist, who made over forty dioramas.