
Luke Batterham
Senior Valuer
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Sold for £22,500 inc. premium
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Senior Valuer
THE TEMPLE OF FLORA IS THE MOST CELEBRATED ENGLISH BOTANICAL BOOK. "At the heart of the New Illustration was Thornton's scheme to produce a specifically British botanical publication of a magnificence to surpass all previous examples. Teams of master engravers and colorists, including Francesco Bartolozzi, Richard Earlom, and John Landseer, used the full range of modern printing techniques to produce colored illustrations after paintings by such prominent artists as Sir William Beechey, James Opie, Henry Raeburn, John Russell, Abraham Pether, and his two favoured illustrators, Peter Henderson and Philip Reinagle" (ODNB). Thornton intended the work as a visual celebration, enlivened by prose and verse text, of the sexual system of Linnaeus. Originally issued in parts the cost and complexity of the project left Thornton exhausted and facing bankruptcy with only 28 of the planned for 70 plates produced.