Benjamin Roubaud was born in Roquevaire, Bouches-du-Rhone, France in June of 1811. He studied art in Paris with painter Louis Hersent and exhibited paintings, mainly landscapes, portraits and still lifes, at the Salon between 1833 and 1847. In 1840 he became the Algerian correspondent for the French magazine L'Illustration. At the end of his life his work depicted Algerian subjects.

From 1830 to 1834 Roubaud worked as a cartoonist/caricaturist for the artist and editor Charles Philipon, whose satirical publications La Charicature and Chiavari shook the Parisian aristocracy. He worked with other satirist printmakers such as Daumier, Gavarni and Grandville. At this time he was also doing work for the newspaper La Monde. Between 1839 and 1842 he produced a series of 100 lithographs for Aubert & Cie titled "Pantheon Charivarique" which were portraits of personalities of the time. Roubaud signed his work "Benjamin."

Benjamin Roubaud died in Algeria on January 14, 1847, at the age of thirty-six.