Robert John Thornton"s Temple of Flora, is the most famous English botanical plate book ever produced. Thornton trained as a physician, but when he inherited his family's fortune, he decided to leave his mark on the world by creating an ambitious series of botanical publications dedicated to the work of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus had revolutionized the world of science in 1735 by developing an entirely new classification system for plants and animals.  Thornton's botanical work was to be a "pictorial celebration" including magnificent images, poetry and verse, of the Linnaean botanical system.

He selected exotic plant specimens and placed each in an romantic setting replete with symbolism. He hired the finest aquatint artists, engravers and colorists and opened an art gallery to display the original works. He set out to produce 70 different images but Thornton was not a very successful marketer and the cost of producing the wildly expensive work brought him to the edge of financial ruin. He ended by publishing a series of 28 undeniably spectacular prints of flowers. Each is a distinctive and evocative image very highly valued by print collectors. Good, crisp impressions with well preserved original colorin , such as this one, are very rare.

28  x 22 inches, overall.
Hand colored aquatint, mezzotint and stipple engraving.
Excellent condition.
Framed to museum specifications.