The Blue Passion Flower, James Caldwall; Robert John Thornton; Philip Reinagle

Artwork Overview

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James Caldwall, artist
1739–1822
Robert John Thornton, author and publisher
circa 1768–1837
Philip Reinagle, artist
1749–1833
The Blue Passion Flower, 1800
Where object was made: England, United Kingdom
Material/technique: colored aquatint; line engraving; hand coloring; stipple engraving
Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 465 x 354 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 18 5/16 x 13 15/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 565 x 450 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 22 1/4 x 17 11/16 in
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 515 x 383 mm
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 1/4 x 15 1/16 in
Credit line: Intended Gift of The Weare-West Family Trust
Accession number: EL2017.161
Not on display
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Images

Label texts

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Initially more controversial than many 21st-century viewers may presume, this hand-colored engraving of a passion flower comes from English physician and botanist Robert John Thornton’s The Temple of Flora; or Garden of Nature Picturesque Botanical Plates of the New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus. Thornton’s decision to include sometimes quite dramatic illustrations of the sexual systems of plants as described by pioneering Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his 1751 Philosophia Botanica, came on the heels of criticism of the sexual underpinnings of the Linnaean system of taxonomy. Linnaeus describes the petals of a flower as “…bridal beds which the creator has so gloriously arranged … and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much greater solemnity.” This sort of analogy with human sexual behavior upset many conservative and religious groups and even alarmed some of the more radical thinkers of the time.
Initially more controversial than many 21st-century viewers may presume, this hand-colored engraving of a passion flower comes from English physician and botanist Robert John Thornton’s The Temple of Flora; or Garden of Nature Picturesque Botanical Plates of the New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnaeus. Thornton’s decision to include sometimes quite dramatic illustrations of the sexual systems of plants as described by pioneering Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his 1751 Philosophia Botanica, came on the heels of criticism of the sexual underpinnings of the Linnaean system of taxonomy. Linnaeus describes the petals of a flower as “…bridal beds which the creator has so gloriously arranged … and perfumed with so many soft scents that the bridegroom with his bride might there celebrate their nuptials with so much greater solemnity.” This sort of analogy with human sexual behavior upset many conservative and religious groups and even alarmed some of the more radical thinkers of the time.

Exhibitions

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World
Stephen Goddard, curator
2018