International Women’s Day special: the botanical artwork of Anne Rudge
Today is International Women’s Day and while we celebrate the work of women throughout the year, this is a particularly good day to read a book, view a collection, listen to an album or watch a film created by a woman.
While women have undoubtedly been artists and creatives for thousands of years, it wasn’t until recently that many of them were even recognized for their contributions to our collective history. However, Anne Rudge is one of the earliest known published female botanical artists and is recognised as such because she signed her works. In fact, it is impossible to say how many female botanical artists have been lost in obscurity because their works were unsigned. Anne Rudge was fortunate in having a husband who greatly appreciated her work and provided active support and encouragement, otherwise, her efforts could all too easily have been lost.
Edward Rudge (1763-1846) was a wealthy landowner and skilled amateur botanist who published a major work on the plants of Guiana between 1805 and 1807. At a time when many new specimens from Australia were being sent back to England, he made a significant contribution to Australian botany by describing twenty-seven Australian plants for the first time in a series of four papers delivered before the Linnean Society between 1805 and 1811.
His marriage to Anne Nouaille (1763-1836) has been described as the perfect scientific and artistic partnership. Anne was already well educated and skilled in drawing before her marriage and was able to utilise her artistic ability by illustrating her husband’s botanical research.
Anne drew the fifty plates for Plantarum Guianae, and also drew the illustrations for the papers her husband wrote for the Linnean Society. Her drawings are large and clear and display precise detail. She was familiar with the requirements of botanical illustration and of Linnean classification; her drawings reveal the details necessary for botanical researchers, such as the reproductive sections of plants. Her drawings were held in such high esteem during her lifetime that a species of water lily was named after her.
Deakin University Library’s Special Collection is fortunate to have a number of early issues of the Linnean Society’s journal in which the work of the Rudges appears. The accompanying illustrations are from Edward Rudge’s paper “Description of Seven New Species of Plants from New Holland” in Transactions of the Linnean Society of London (1807): 291.
The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society, founded in 1788 and which takes its name from the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) whose research provides the taxonomic foundation for many of the natural sciences. The Linnean Society has always published journals and notable scientists such as Charles Darwin have reported their findings at Society meetings and had their research published in the Society’s journal.
As always, you are welcome to request a viewing of items in our Special Collection anytime. Just email us at [email protected].
Happy International Women’s Day! We hope you’ll join us in celebrating the artistic, scientific and historical contributions of women all over the world today.