Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nodder, Frederick P.

by Lionel Henry Cust ‎

NODDER, FREDERICK P. (d. 1800?), botanic painter and engraver, appears to have been the son of a Mr. Nodder residing in Panton Street, Leicester Square, who from 1773 to 1778 exhibited some paintings on silk and pictorial subjects wrought in human hair at the Society of Artists' exhibitions. In 1786 Nodder first appears as an exhibitor at the Royal Academy of drawings of flowers, and in 1788 he is styled ‘botanical painter to her Majesty.’ Nodder supplied the illustrations, drawn, etched, and coloured by himself, to various botanical works, such as Thomas Martyn's ‘Plates … to illustrate Linnæus's System of Vegetables’ (1788), and ‘Flora Rustica’ (1792–1794). He also published, with similar engravings, a work entitled ‘Vivarium Naturæ, or the Naturalist's Miscellany,’ the text of which was edited by George Shaw [q. v.], F.R.S. This work entered over twenty-four volumes, from 1789 to 1813. Nodder appears to have died about 1800, and the publication was carried on by his widow, Elizabeth, the plates being supplied by Richard P. Nodder, apparently a son. The latter afterwards obtained some repute as a painter of horses and dogs, and was an occasional exhibitor at the Royal Academy.

[Dodd's manuscript Hist. of English Engravers, Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 33403; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880; Catalogues of the Society of Artists and Royal Academy.]

L. C.