Jan Michiel Ruyten or Jan Ruyten was a Belgian Romantic painter, draughts man and engraver known for his genre paintings, cityscapes, landscapes with figures and history paintings. He was influenced by Dutch Romantic painting.

Jan Michiel Ruyten was born in Antwerp where he received his first artistic training from Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter. Initially he painted landscapes and genre paintings and then developed towards city views. From a young age he started contributing his works to the salons in Ghent, Brussels and, Antwerp.

Ruyten became in 1840 a member of the Antwerp Academy. The marine and city painter Hendrik Frans Schaefels worked as an assistant of Ruyten between 1842 and 1844.

Ruyten left Belgium for the Netherlands in the 1840s. It is known that he contributed a painting to the exhibition of The Hague in 1845. He is presumed to have lived and worked in The Hague until 1870. In the Netherlands he got to know the work of Andreas Schelfhout and this artist's pupil Wijnand Nuijen, which had a great influence on his choice of subjects. Schaefels exhibited in his native Belgium as well as in Vienna and London and was awarded numerous prizes.

Ruyten's pupils included Florent Crabeels, Alexander Josephus Thomas Wittevronghel (1824–1901), and Laurent Herman Redig (1822–1861).