The eighteenth-century saw the introduction to Europe of vast quantities of new and exotic plants from abroad. Encouraged by Royal patronage, competition throughout Europe to produce the finest illustrative works was extremely high. Having trained as a medical practitioner, Thornton pursued his passion for botany when he inherited his family fortune with an aim to produce a British work that would be ‘a National Honour’.

The Temple of Flora was based on the ideas of Carl Linnaeus whose Systema Natura (1735) drew frank analogies between the sexual behaviour of plants and human beings. Linnaeus’s theories were often greeted with disbelief and stringent censure.  It is to Thornton’s lasting credit that he had the courage to produce a work of such importance against the odds of controversy. Around thirty plates were produced in total over a period between 1799 and 1807 with each plate dated individually. Prints were issued in different combinations according to the specific requirements of individual customers whilst each plate was produced through a different mixed-method of engraving processes – aquatint, mezzotint, stipple and line engraving.

Thornton put every penny of his inheritance into the venture which, due to the continental war and changing taste, ended in financial disaster. In an attempt to extricate himself for overwhelming debt Thornton obtained the permission of Parliament to organise a lottery with twenty-thousand tickets at two guineas each and prizes valued at £77,000. A smaller edition of The Temple of Flora was produced as a lottery prize. The project did not succeed, and when Thornton died in 1837 his family was destitute.

Today, the Temple of Flora is generally held to be one of the finest illustrated botanical works ever produced, and is a splendid testament to the passion of Robert Thornton.

Below are a few examples from this collection. Please click on an image to see it in high-resolution with details of the work itself. For a full list of original antique engravings, please do contact us.

Flowering Sensitive Plant: Set within an Indian landscape with hummingbirds and an admirer in the foreground.

Aloe: Agave or American Aloe. Aloes are natives of the Old World whilst agaves are from the New. Thornton subsequently corrected his mistake.

The Blue Passion Flower climbing a pillar. Native to Peru and Brazil, it was introduced to Europe in 1699 where it took to cooler climes.

Queen Flower: Bird of Paradise in an African landscape.

Tulips: La Triomphe, Louis XVI, Duchess of Devonshire, General Washington, Earl Spencer, La Majestieuse and Gloria Mundi set in a romanticised Dutch landscape complete with windmill.

The Snowdro with yellow and purple crocuses set in a wintry English landscape.

The Superb Lily, also known as the Turk’s Cap, set in a romanticised mountainous landscape alluding to its North American origins.

Roses: Damask Rose, Unique Blanche, Sulpher Rose, White & Moss Rose, Dog Rose, Cabbage Rose, Yellow Rose, Variegate Rose. With pair of birds, nest of hatchlings, dragonfly and tower.

White Lily with yellow margined leaves and classical temple alluding to it being cherised by the Ancient Greeks and later the Romans.

Flora Dispensing Her Favours on the Earth. 1812

The Sacred Egyptian Bean (Lotus). Revered as the Sacred Lotus of the East, it no longer grows in Egypt.

The Nodding Remealmia. Native to China and Japan.

Carnations: Flakes, Bizarres, and Piquettes. almer’s Defiance, Davy’s Defiance, Duchess of Dorset, Duchess of Wurtemberg, British Monarch, Prince of Wales. Set in a romanticised landscape with Norman ruins.

Lottery Edition 1812

The Blue Passion Flower climbing a classical column.

The Snowdrop with crocuses in a wintery English landscape.

American Aloe or Agave set in a landscape.

Tankerville’s or China Limodorum set in a romanticised English landscape alluding to Lady Tankerville, a well known collector of exotic plants,

Curious American Bog Plants. Fly Oprys, Venus Fly Trap, Bee Orphys, Yellow side-saddle, Tutsan-leaved Dog’s bone and Stinking pothos.

The Superb Lily, also known as the Turk’s Cap, set in a romanticised North American landscape.

Stapelias Succulent: Dewy, Hirsute and Bell-shaped Stapelias with snakes and a lizard set in an African landscape with an erupting volcano.

The Nodding Remealmia native to China & Japan. With delicate drops of dew falling from its petals.