Mayfair, London
Details
- Dimensions
- 20.48ʺW × 0.75ʺD × 25.2ʺH
- Styles
- Traditional
- Art Subjects
- Botanic
- Frame Type
- Framed
- Period
- Late 18th Century
- Item Type
- Vintage, Antique or Pre-owned
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- Materials
- Aquatint
- Mezzotint
- Condition
- Good Condition, Unknown, Some Imperfections
- Color
- Cream
- Condition Notes
- Good. Framed and glazed in a handmade frame. Overall dimensions: 64 x 52 cm. Good. Framed and glazed in a handmade frame. Overall dimensions: 64 x 52 cm. less
- Description
-
Magnificent print by Robert John Thornton. Aquatint and mezzotint, printed in colour and finished by hand, heightened with gum arabic, …
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Magnificent print by Robert John Thornton. Aquatint and mezzotint, printed in colour and finished by hand, heightened with gum arabic, from The Temple of Flora.
[London 1799]
First state.
Thornton was a prolific medical author and Doctor of Medicine, practicing at St Andrews University and licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians. However, he is best remembered for this great botanical publication The Temple of Flora, which formed a part of the larger work - New Illustration of the Sexual system of Linnaeus.
In 1797, he also began advertising for subscribers to his planned natural history publishing venture, which eventually comprised of 30 folio botanical plates. For these remarkable illustrations, he engaged the services of the leading artists and engravers of his day: Sir William Beechey, James Opie, Henry Raeburn, John Russell, Philip Reinagle and others as painters; Francesco Bartolozzi, Richard Earlom and John Landseer. Most of the images were painted by Peter Charles Henderson and Philip Reinagle.
These botanical illustrations are unique as they were the first flower prints with landscape backgrounds, depicting the natural habitat of the plant. The life-size flowers stand out dramatically and the whole effect is startlingly modern. Thornton's announced intention was to make this work the most magnificent tribute ever paid to the famous Swedish botanist Linnaeus by illustrating his Sexual System with the finest possible prints. All these were engraved on a larger scale than anything which had hitherto appeared and then were printed in colour, an expensive and uncommon method in England at this time. A brilliant effect.
This rare and celebrated plate of the Roses is the only one by Thornton by himself. less
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Mayfair, London
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