Francis Bindon

Francis Bindon (c.1690 – 1765) was a popular architect and painter in 18th century Ireland. Bindon was highly regarded by his contemporaries and was commissioned to design buildings and paint portraits for some of Ireland's most prominent figures. Today, relatively little is known about the man, despite the number of paintings and buildings he has left as his legacy.

Bindon spent much of his life in Dublin where he established himself as a popular portrait painter. Perhaps his most famous portrait is that of Turlough Carolan, the blind harpist. The painting, only recently attributed to Bindon, hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland and is the only known portrait of Carolan to have survived. Other portraits include those of Archbishop Hugh Boulter, Thomas Sheridan, Archbishop Charles Cobbe, Dean Patrick Delaney, and several of Jonathan Swift.

Bindon went on to design mostly classically derived country houses such as , Co. Kilkenny, Drewstown, Co. Kildare and Newhall, Co. Clare. He also designed Johns Square in Limerick, the Market House, Mountrath and worked in collaboration with Richard Cassels on the design of Russborough House, Co. Wicklow (completing it after Cassels died in 1751). Russborough is arguably the most beautiful house in Ireland.

Deane Swift, cousin of Jonathan Swift, described him as "the greatest painter and architect of his time in these kingdoms", a territory which would have included Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Admittedly, Swift was a close friend of Bindon's and may have been guilty of "amiable overstatement". Be that as it may, the simple elegance of Bindon's art and architecture speaks eloquently enough for itself. Several of his portraits of leading members of 18th century society hang in the National Gallery, while a number of his elegant Palladian mansions are dotted throughout the Irish countryside.

The most thorough piece of research on Bindon to date was written by the Knight of Glin in 1967. However, this is more of a succinct artistic critique than a biography and contains tantalisingly few details of his private life. What we do know is that Bindon was born in Clooney, County Clare c.1690 and died unmarried in 1765. Like many of his contemporaries Bindon was a 'gentleman amateur' whose privileged background allowed him to pursue a wide variety of interests.

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