Aesculapius, Flora, Ceres and Cupid honouring the Bust of Linnaeus

London, 1806. Hand-coloured and colour-printed line and stipple engraving by Caldwell. "An uncoloured version of this allegorical scene was issued in 1799.The painting was made by John Russell and John Opie working together and this version was engraved by Ridley. In 1806, however, Thornton had the painting re-engraved by Caldwall and this time published it in colour. Thornton said of this plate: The introduction ogf Flora, ceres and Aesculapius, is emblematic of the advantages derived from the study of the science of Botany, as in the works of Linnaeus, to physic, agriculture, and as an elegant pursuit for the ladies. Cupid is represented in allusion to the sexual system, invented by Linnaeus. The Zephyr above denotes spring, the season most favourable to the study of Botany. The fair form of Flora and Cupid, with the bust of Linnaeus, cannot fail to disclose to the eye of the observer the magic pencil of Russell, and the figures of Aesculapius and Ceres, the nervous and masterly strokes of Opie. The plate is.. dark, the background being a laurel grove at evening time. The lines which Cupid is engraving on the pedestal of the bust are by Charlotte Lennox: All animated Nature owns my sway,/ Earth, sea and air, my potent laws obey/ And thou, divine Linnaeus, trac'd my reign/ O'er trees and shrubs, and Flora's beauteous train,/ Proved them obedient to my soft controul,/ And gaily breathe an aromatic soul." (Ronald King. The Temple of Flora by Robert Thornton. 1981, p.48). Thornton's Temple of Flora is the greatest English colour-plate flower book. Thornton ` inherited a competent fortune and trained as a doctor. He appears to have had considerable success in practice and was appointed both physician to the Marylebone Dispensary and lecturer in medical botany at Guy's and St. Thomas's hospitals...But quite early in his career he embarked on his…great work… What Redouté produced under the patronage of L'Héritier, Marie Antoinette, the Empress Josephine, Charles X and the Duchesse de Berry, Thornton set out to do alone… Numerous important artists were engaged.. twenty-eight paintings of flowers commissioned from Abraham Pether, known as `Moonlight Pether', Philip Reinagle, .. Sydenham Edwards, and Peter Henderson... The result...involved Thornton in desperate financial straits…In an attempt to extricate himself he organized the Royal Botanic Lottery, under the patronage of the Prince Regent…it is easy to raise one's eyebrows at Thornton's unworldly and injudicious approach to publishing...But he produced...one of the loveliest books in the world" (Alan Thomas Great Books and Book Collecting, pp.142-144). First and only state of this plate from the Temple of Flora.