Description
Engraved by Landseer after a painting by Peter Henderson The China Limodoron Robert Thornton (English, 1768Ā1837), physician and medical botanist, created The Temple of Flora as a tribute to the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The collection of thirty-one color plates, published between 1799 and 1807, is widely considered one of the most beautiful botanical books ever produced, despite its scientific inaccuracies. At great expense, Thornton commissioned artists to create flowers on classical landscape backgrounds using aquatint, mezzotint, stipple engraving, and line engraving. The images were then printed in color and finished by hand. Production costs left Thornton nearly bankrupt, and he died in poverty. - INDIVIDUAL ITEM RRP £1.99
