John Skinner Prout (19 December 1805 – 29 August 1876) was a British painter, writer, lithographer and art teacher who worked in Australia in the 1840s.

Prout followed the route of many artists of the period, journeying west across the Blue Mountains towards Bathurst, south to Broulee and the Illawarra district, and north to Newcastle and Port Stephens.

[4] Due to the lacklustre market for his works, competition by more established artists such as Conrad Martens, and the depressed economic circumstances of Sydney during the 1840s, Prout and his family moved once more.

[6] Upon his return, at the Western Literary and Scientific Institution, Leicester Square, he exhibited his work on life in the Australian colonies, and lectured on convicts, bushrangers and Aboriginals.

Prout died at Kentish Town, London, on 29 August 1876[1] and was buried in a family grave on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.