Robert John Thornton
Encyclopedia
Bonnell Thornton
Bonnell Thornton was an English poet, essayist, and critic. He was educated at Westminster School, and at Oxford University.In 1752 he founded the Drury Lane Journal, a satirical periodical which, among other things, lampooned other journals such as Johnson's Rambler, The Gentleman's Magazine and...
and studied at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
. Inspired by Thomas Martyn
Thomas Martyn
Thomas Martyn was an English botanist and Professor of Botany at Cambridge University. He is sometimes confused with the conchologist and entomologist of the same name....
's lectures on botany and the work of Linnaeus he switched from the church to medicine. He worked at Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
in London, where he later lectured in medical botany. After spending some time abroad, he settled and practised in London. Robert inherited the family fortune after the death of both his brother and mother.
The most ambitious part of the "New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnæus" was Part III, the "Temple of Flora" (1799-1807). The first plates were engraved by Thomas Medland (1755-1833) in May 1798 from paintings by Philip Reinagle
Philip Reinagle
Philip Reinagle was an English animal, landscape and botanical painter.- Biography :Philip Reinagle entered the schools of the Royal Academy in 1769, and afterwards became a pupil of Allan Ramsay , whom he assisted in the numerous portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte...
. Between 1798 and 1807 they produced a total of thirty-three coloured plates, engraved in aquatint, stipple and line. When he planned the project, Thornton had decided to publish seventy folio-size plates. Lack of interest from the general public spelled disaster for the scheme, and the holding of a lottery could not save it from financial ruin, neither did a page in the work dedicated to the spouse of George III, Queen Charlotte
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the Queen consort of the United Kingdom as the wife of King George III...
, patroness of botany and the fine arts—Thornton died in destitution.
External links
Further reading
- de Bray, Lys (2001). The Art of Botanical Illustration: A history of classic illustrators and their achievements, pp. 77-85. Quantum Publishing Ltd., London. ISBN 1-86160-425-4.