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.