# Robert John Thornton artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-john-thornton/
Profile generated: 2026-08-24T22:15:18.079Z
Quality: medium confidence, adequate sources

## Artist identity

- Death date: 1837-01-21
- Nationality: British
- Common media: Botanical publications, Illustrated natural-history books and publication-related prints

## Portrait

![Robert John Thornton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Robert_John_Thornton01.jpg)
John Russell (1745-1806) and Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815) · Public domain
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_John_Thornton01.jpg

## About Robert John Thornton

Robert John Thornton (1768–1837) was a British botanist, physician, and botanical writer associated with ambitious botanical publishing. He is noted for A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus Von Linnæus, issued from 1797 to 1807, and The British Flora of 1812. His historical context lies at the intersection of botanical study, Linnaean classification, book production, and visual culture rather than a conventional modern studio practice. Collectors may therefore encounter Thornton’s name in catalogues for botanical books, plates, prints, and other publication-related material. Careful entity matching is important because a catalogue may associate a work with Thornton as its author or publishing figure while separately identifying an artist or engraver. Authority records from Wikidata, Getty ULAN, and other institutional databases point to the same eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British figure. Exact titles, dates, formats, and contributor statements remain essential when identifying objects offered under his name.

## Common works and media

The collected sources connect Thornton chiefly with botanical literature, especially A New Illustration of the Sexual System of Carolus Von Linnæus and The British Flora. Objects encountered in appraisal contexts may be catalogued as botanical books, illustrated publications, individual botanical plates, or publication-related prints. Cataloguers should record the precise title, date, format, edition information, and all named contributor roles rather than assuming that every image associated with a Thornton publication was personally made by him.

## Market and appraisal context

Thornton-related material should be assessed at the object level rather than valued from the name alone. An appraisal should establish whether the item is a complete publication, an individual plate, or later publication-related material, then document its exact title, date, format, stated contributors, edition or issue information, completeness, condition, and provenance. Comparisons are most useful when public auction lots share the same bibliographic identity and object format. Appraisily records indicate auction activity under Thornton’s name, but this source pack does not expose lot-level descriptions or realized-price history. This profile therefore makes no claim about price direction, scarcity, or record values.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine public artist-identity research with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Thornton, the supplied identity evidence is stronger than the extracted lot-level market evidence, so market conclusions remain deliberately limited.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5928444
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500029551
- British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG140951
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_John_Thornton
- Wikipedia: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_John_Thornton
- Appraisily: https://appraisily.com/artist/robert-john-thornton/