Robert John Thornton MD

Engraving from the 'European Magazine'. Robert John Thornton (1768-1837) was an English physician and botanical writer, noted for "A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus Von Linneus" (1797-1807) and "The British Flora" of 1812. The most ambitious part of the "New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linneus" was Part III, the "Temple of Flora" (1799-1807). The first plates were engraved by Thomas Medland in May 1798 from paintings by Philip Reinagle. Between 1798 and 1807 they produced a total of thirty-three coloured plates, engraved in aquatint, stipple and line.