Anne Rudge

Anne Rudge (29 October 1761 – 1 September 1836) was a British botanical illustrator who illustrated the works of her husband, the botanist Edward Rudge and her son, the barrister and antiquary Edward John Rudge, among others. She is one of the earliest known published female botanical artists, as, unlike many other female artists in her field at that time, she signed her work.

Early life She was born in London in 1761 as Anne Nouaille, the daughter of Elizabeth née de la Mare and Peter Nouaille (1723–1809). Of Huguenot descent, Peter Nouaille's family originated from Nismes in France, his father having migrated to England to escape persecution. A silk manufacturer and Justice of the Peace of Sevenoaks in Kent, Their children were: the barrister and antiquary Edward John Rudge (1792–1861), Anne Eliza Rudge (1797–1879) and the barrister Samuel Nouaille Rudge (1801–1865).

Botanical illustrator

The first evidence for her printmaking is a group of etchings of 1799. Rudge generally gave her prints plate numbers at the top of the plate. Under her husband's tuition she became skilled in accurate, precise and detailed botanical illustration, providing fifty plates for his Plantarum Guianæ rariorum icones et descriptiones hactenus ineditæ (1805–07), in addition to drawing the illustrations for the papers her husband wrote for the Linnean Society in 1811, being familiar with Linnean classification. Her drawings accurately depict the detail required by botanical researchers including the reproductive sections of plants. Such was her fame in the botanical world that a species of water lily was named after her.

At her father's insistence she received an excellent education, being proficient in modern and ancient languages, in music and in art, excelling particularly in the latter.

She died in 1836 after a painful illness lasting five weeks and was buried in the Rudge family vault in St Lawrence's church in Evesham. On the day of her funeral the local public houses closed as a sign of respect.