John Rubens Smith (January 23, 1775 – August 21, 1849) was a London-born painter, printmaker and art instructor who worked in the United States.

Smith was born in London where he first studied art with his father, John Raphael Smith, a mezzotint engraver. Smith later studied art at the Royal Academy.

Around 1807, Smith emigrated from New York City to London. 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 was a moving panorama painter who worked with Richard Risley Carlisle.

• The juvenile drawing-book (1844)

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  Beacon Hill, Boston
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  Catskill Mountain-House
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  Officer from First Troop, Philadelphia

• John Rubens Smith biography at the Library of Congress website (visited June 21, 2010)
• John Rubens Smith Created Pictorial Record of Early America at the Library of Congress website (visited June 21, 2010)
• Vital data at printsandprintmaking.gov.au (visited June 21, 2010)

• John Rubens Smith, New York, N.Y. letter to Asher Brown Durand, 1826 May 25 (visited June 21, 2010)