The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 24, 2024
The Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature: A Group of Auriculas
1803
(British, 1768–1837)
Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1949.415
Location: not on view
Description
The greatest English botanical publication of the early 19th century was Dr. Robert John Thornton’s Temple of Flora. Although Thornton studied medicine, his passion was botany and he soon embarked upon a major publishing venture that brought him both fame and financial ruin. The work, New Illustrations of the Sexual System of Linnaeus, was the most sumptuous botanical publication ever produced. The third section, the famous Temple of Flora, has 28 flower portraits set not against a plain conventional background but in the full richness of their natural setting. Unfortunately the day of the great florilegia had passed and Thornton died in poverty in 1837.- The Flowering of the Botanical Print. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-July 3, 2016).The Perennial Garden: 18th and 19th Century Botanical Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 3-July 31, 1983).
- {{cite web|title=The Temple of Flora, or Garden of Nature: A Group of Auriculas|url=false|author=Robert John Thornton|year=1803|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1949.415