Background
He was born on January 23, 1775, in Covent Garden, London, England, United Kingdom, a son of John Raphael and Hannah (Croome) Smith, and a grandson of Thomas Smith, known as "Smith of Derby, " landscape painter.
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
https://www.amazon.com/Juvenile-Drawing-Book-John-Rubens-Smith/dp/137563075X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=137563075X
(Excerpt from A Compendium of Picturesque Anatomy: Adapted...)
Excerpt from A Compendium of Picturesque Anatomy: Adapted to the Arts of Designing, Painting, Sculpture and Engraving on Four Folio Lithographic Plates, in Which Are Combined the Osteology and Myology of the Human Figure In each half diameter you see two other circles which thus quarter the total height according to the first grand line Of measurement, the upper quarter or diameter being through the base or broadest part of the breast, or, more properly, half way down the sternum or breast bone, as also through the arm-pits in front and profile figure, and near the ends of the shoulder blades in back View. The Iower diameter through the knees, or junction of the leg and thigh bones, are alike in each. The next line of measurement for correcting in detail, consists of a scale of heads and faces; it being allowed by all painters and sculptors that a figure should be seven heads and half, or ten faces. A head is divided into four parts; three are given to a face, of which a nose is one third, and being one determinate and prominent feature is generally used as a rule for proportioning all details by the expression of so many noses, instead of so many thirds of a face. The inner or thin line On the left Of same figure, is divided into ten faces, then subdivided into noses, every three constituting a face, marked F 1, F 2, &c.; and every fourth nose is carried out to the first grand line to denote heads, marked H I, H II, Also on the right of the front figure is given the measurements of faces as applied to the thigh and leg; by which you see that commencing from the grand centre line through OS pubis, you give two faces to the thigh bone and half a face to the knee, two faces to the leg or shin bone and half a face from ancle or instep to the flat or tread of the heel or foot., Again, on the left side of the back veiw is subjoined the measurement of noses, beginning from the bottom the dotted line for the ancle being half a face, or a nose and half, the same for the knee; and the fifteenth nose, or fifth face, finishes at the projection of the great trochanter or outer protuberance of the thigh-bone. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Compendium-Picturesque-Anatomy-Designing-Lithographic/dp/026004878X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=026004878X
He was born on January 23, 1775, in Covent Garden, London, England, United Kingdom, a son of John Raphael and Hannah (Croome) Smith, and a grandson of Thomas Smith, known as "Smith of Derby, " landscape painter.
From his father, an eminent mezzotinter, John Rubens learned sound draftsmanship.
Between 1796 and 1811, working with his father, he had nearly fifty paintings in the annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy.
He came to America at least as early as 1809. Like other English artists, he probably emigrated because of the depression caused in Great Britain by the Napoleonic wars. In Boston, where he lived in Milk Street, he made a series of topographical water colors of local landmarks, these including Beacon Hill, then in process of partial demolition, the Old South Church, and Pawtucket Falls in the Blackstone River.
An assertive personality is said to have made him unpopular in Boston, and he presently removed (1814) to New York, later in Philadelphia. His alleged unethical attacks upon the work and character of John Vanderlyn and his shabby treatment of Francis Alexander were indignantly denounced by Dunlap. Twenty years or more after these misunderstandings of the National Academy of Design's first period, Smith expressed deepest regret for his scurrilous writings. It is also on record, that in 1843 he applied for a professorship of perspective at the Academy and that, though his request was not granted, he was offered three months' use of a room in which to exemplify some apparatus he had invented.
His last days were rendered uncomfortable by poverty which, as Cummings relates, was "in some degree alleviated by those who had suffered most from his pungent pen. " He died in New York.
John Rubens Smith depicted the United States in the decades before photography, and influenced a generation of American artists through his drawing academies and drawing manuals. During his years as a teacher of art in America he published The Juvenile Drawing-Book, A Compendium of Picturesque Anatomy and other famous publications. His extant works, such as his mezzotints of portraits of Benjamin Lincoln and James Patterson are the work of a great draftsman; their antiquarian interest is considerable.
(Excerpt from A Compendium of Picturesque Anatomy: Adapted...)
( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
Quotations: He admitted that throughout life "My own temper had been my worst enemy and ruin".
He was a good teacher and a quarrelsome person. He had an acute perception of individual character.
Quotes from others about the person
According to Crayon (November 7, 1855), Smith was described as being a man of "short figure, large head, peculiar one-sided gait, and indescribable expression of countenance".
Cummings characterized him as "a teacher of the highest order of excellence".
On April 14, 1809, he married Elizabeth Pepperal Sanger in Boston, Massachussets, United States. One of his children was John Rowson Smith.
