John Rubens Smith
Documented pre-photo America, taught art.
John Rubens Smith was a London-born painter, printmaker and art instructor who worked in the United States. Smith was born in London, England where he first studied art with his father, John Raphael Smith, a mezzotint engraver. He later studied art at the Royal Academy. Smith emigrated to New York City from London about 1807. He depicted the United States in the decades before photography, and influenced a generation of American artists through his drawing academies and drawing manuals. He died in New York City. His son John Rowson Smith (1810–1864) was a moving panorama painter who worked with Richard Risley Carlisle.
Relationship Network
Master student
- John Raphael Smith Master
- Sanford Robinson Gifford Student
Parent child
- John Raphael Smith Parent
- John Rowson Smith Parent
Artworks by this artist
- The actors monument 1833
- Eliza Pepperell Sanger Smith, wife of John Rubens Smith 1830-1840
- Allan Melville 1810
- West front of the United States Capitol with cows in the foreground 1831
- Portrait of a man seated 1809
- Old Boston. Beacon Hill from Derne St
- Country church with figures, one holding a shovel, at night 1809-1844
- Allegorical scene of female figures in clouds atop columns 1795-1849
- Tomb of Washington, Mount Vernon 1832
- West Point from Constitution Island 1820
- Male figure, nude, holding discus, right arm outstretched, seen from front 1798
- View of the house of Victor DuPont from the opposite side of the Brandywine Creek 1811-1827
- Officer from the First Troop, Philadelphia, facing forward 1839
- Two vignettes incorporating designs for the seal of the City of New York 1809-1844
- Neoclassic building with ‘MDCCXIX’ on pediment, Charleston 1812
- Packet boat grounded for tarring beside wharf–Men and wagon in foreground 1809-1844
- A fire at 7th and Sanson streets in Philadelphia 1830-1840
- John Ross 1841
- Vignette of a soldier leaning on ordnance with fortifications in distant background 1839
- Bust profile of a Greek soldier with helmet 1796-1799