Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays or Deshayes was a French painter of religious and mythological subjects.

Deshays was born in Colleville. His first training was under his father, the minor Rouen painter Jean-Dominique Deshays, he then spent a little time under Jean-Baptiste Descamps at his Ecole Gratuite de Dessin. He spent time in Hyacinthe Collin de Vermont's Paris studio from around 1740 to 1749 and Jean Restout II's from late 1749 to 1751. Both these had been pupils of Jean Jouvenet, and painted in the Grand Style of French history painting, a style Deshays adopted as his own.

While he was in Restout's studio, Deshays entered the Prix de Rome competition, winning second prize in 1750 with his painting Laban Giving his Daught...