John Rubens Smith (January 23, 1775 – August 21, 1849) was a London-born

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique ...

and art instructor who worked in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Biography

Smith was born in London where he first studied art with his father,

John Raphael Smith John Raphael Smith (25 May 1751 – 2 March 1812) was a British Painting, painter and mezzotinter. He was the son of Thomas Smith (English painter), Thomas Smith of Derby, the landscape painter, and father of John Rubens Smith, a painter who e ...

, a

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

engraver. Smith later studied art at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. 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 John Rowson Smith (1810 – 1864) was an American painter and a pioneer in the creation of moving panoramas. His ''Leviathan Panorama of the Mississippi River'' was created in the 1840s, covered 20,000 square feet of canvas, and depicted ap ...

was a

moving panorama The moving panorama was an innovation on panoramic painting in the mid-nineteenth century. It was among the most popular forms of entertainment in the world, with hundreds of panoramas constantly on tour in the United Kingdom, the United States, a ...

painter who worked with

Richard Risley Carlisle Richard Risley Carlisle (1814–1874) was an American gymnast and acrobat who often performed as Professor Risley. He is known for developing a circus act of juggling with the feet known as the Risley act. An inveterate traveler to Europe, Aus ...

Works

The juvenile drawing-book
(1844)

Gallery

File:Old Boston. Beacon Hill from Mt. Vernon St., near the head of Hancock St. - from a drawing made on the spot by J.R. Smith in 1811, 12 ; J.H. Bufford's Lith. 313 Washington St. LCCN2002725395.jpg,

Beacon Hill, Boston Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is also the location of the Massachusetts State House. The term "Beacon Hill" is used locally as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature i ...

File:Catskill Mountain-House-A celebrated summer hotel about 12 miles S.W. of the village of Catskill Greene Co., N. York ... - drawn, engraved & publ. by J.R. Smith, Philada. June 21, 1830. LCCN95511202.tif, Catskill Mountain-House File:Officer from the First Troop, Philadelphia, seated by a tent in which a writing desk is visible. A soldier marches with a rifle nearby) - J.R. Smith, 1839, Phila LCCN2011645490.tif, Officer from First Troop, Philadelphia

References

John Rubens Smith biography
at the Library of Congress website (visited June 21, 2010)

at the Library of Congress website (visited June 21, 2010)
Vital data
at printsandprintmaking.gov.au (visited June 21, 2010)

External links

(visited June 21, 2010) 1775 births 1849 deaths American educators English emigrants 18th-century American painters 18th-century American male artists American male painters 19th-century American painters 19th-century American male artists British emigrants to the United States {{US-painter-stub