Robert Thornton was a botanist most famous for his Temple of Flora (RCIN 1059578), an eccentric, albeit beautifully illustrated, work written in praise of the sexual classification system for plants introduced by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus. This work is one of his other botanical publications.

By 1811, the once prosperous Thornton was in dire financial straits and persuaded Parliament to allow him to host a lottery to prevent his having to declare bankruptcy. The lottery intended to sell original paintings for his works, unbound plates and copies of his other books. It hoped to raise £77,000 but appears not to have worked, for when Thornton died in 1837, his family were left almost penniless.