Giclee reprint of an original lithograph from from Robert John Thornton’s Temple of Flora, published in parts between 1799-1809

The Temple of Flora is widely celebrated as the most famous and visually spectacular flower book ever printed. It served as the third and final volume of his massive publishing venture, New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus von Linnaeus, which aimed to illustrate and celebrate the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus's revolutionary theories on plant reproduction.

Unlike traditional botanical illustrations of the 18th century—which featured clean, isolated specimens on stark white backgrounds—many of Thornton's plates placed flowers in dramatic, epic, and highly stylized natural environments. The images are deeply pre-Romantic, pairing hyper-detailed flora with theatrical, brooding backdrops like dark skies, storm clouds, ruins, and sweeping pastoral landscapes designed to evoke pure emotion.

Thornton was a medical doctor rather than a professional artist or botanist, so he commissioned the finest British painters and engravers of his era to execute his vision.