Embedded Files
Image: Cirencester Mrket Place by Victor Coverley
Daniel Bingham Foundation and Gallery – Past and Present Visit
Tuesday 4th February 2025
A private guided visit to the treasures behind the doors of Bingham House and Gallery with drinks and nibbles
Cirencester-born Daniel George Bingham (1830-1913) was one of our town’s greatest benefactors. Giving Cirencester a new library, a public hall and extensions to the local hospital were some of the major contributions he made to our town. His legacy continues in the Daniel Bingham Foundation and Gallery, located at Bingham House in Dyer Street.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening visit began with drinks and delicious canapés whilst Foundation Chair, Gary Selwyn gave us an enthusiastic overview of the background and work of the Daniel Bingham Foundation, the public facing name of the Bingham Library Trust. Its vision is “to create opportunities for improving the well-being of individuals who live in and around Cirencester and to re-imagine Daniel Bingham’s legacy for the benefit of future generations” whilst caring for the fabric of the buildings.
Helen Timlin, Curatorial Advisor, continued with an engaging and informative talk about the life of Daniel George Bingham and his philanthropy, in particular relation to the Daniel Bingham Library building itself, now known as Bingham House. We learned about the historic architecture and uses of each of the rooms when it was established as a library and an “innovative hub of its day”, as well as the current curatorial work in digitising artefacts, documents, images and paintings. This also gave us a privileged opportunity of seeing the archive store rooms housing the paintings and photographic images currently not on display.
Daniel Bingham had a long-held dream to create a fine art gallery that was not realised in his lifetime. Appropriately, the evening was rounded off in the old Reading Room on the ground floor which has now been established as a permanent exhibition space that is open to the public all year round. We were able to view the permanent exhibition, alongside the contemporary artwork of the Annual Exhibition, created and curated by Cirencester based artist, Laurie Plant.
Cirencester Capital of the Cotswolds (For Daniel George Bingham) by Laurie Plant
There was an opportunity to meet and talk to Laurie Plant, as well as hear him talk about the most prominent painting “Cirencester Capital of the Cotswolds (For Daniel George Bingham)”, commissioned for the Permanent Collection of the Daniel Bingham Foundation in 2012. After listening to his description of his process, the reasoning behind the inclusion of the symbols, words, objects, people, animals and architecture, embodying Bingham’s vision as “examples of which shape the Cirencester that we know and love today”, it was not surprising to learn that the painting took two years to complete.
Images coutesy of:
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse