Bonnethead shark, Sphyma tiburo

Bonnethead shark, Sphyma tiburo. Illustration signed RN (Richard Nodder). Handcolored copperplate engraving from George Shaw and Frederick Nodder's 'The Naturalist's Miscellany' 1795. Frederick Polydore Nodder (1751~1801?) was a gifted natural history artist and engraver. Nodder honed his draftsmanship working on Captain Cook and Joseph Banks' Florilegium and engraving Sydney Parkinson's sketches of Australian plants. He was made 'botanic painter to her majesty' Queen Charlotte in 1785. Nodder also drew the botanical studies in Thomas Martyn's Flora Rustica (1792) and 38 Plates (1799). Most of the 1,064 illustrations of animals, birds, insects, crustaceans, fishes, marine life and microscopic creatures for the Naturalist's Miscellany were drawn, engraved and published by Frederick Nodder's family. Frederick himself drew and engraved many of the copperplates until his death. His wife Elizabeth is credited as publisher on the volumes after 1801. Their son Richard Polydore (1774~1823) was responsible for the plates signed RN or RPN. Richard exhibited at the Royal Academy and became botanic painter to King George III. The illustrations are characterized by vivid colouring, fine detail, and a certain posed stiffness in the ornithological portraits, perhaps because they were sketched from dead specimens. (Photo by: Florilegius/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)