A unique portrait of Ireland’s best-known health campaigner, Vicky Phelan, has raised an incredible €46,500 at auction today for Heroes Aid.
The Irish healthcare charity, Heroes Aid, was set up in March last year in response to the Covid-19 pandemic offering assistance to health workers on the frontline.
Ms Phelan, who was appointed to the board of Heroes Aid as a ‘patient advocate’ unveiled the painting for the first time last month on RTE’s ‘Late Late Show’.
The artwork by Tullamore artist Vincent Devine, is a large rectangular triptych, featuring acrylic on canvass. In total the piece measures an impressive 4-foot-9 by 9-foot-8 and tells the story of Vicky Phelan’s life in three panels. The piece includes references to her Cancer diagnosis and her heroic advocacy on behalf of all the women caught up in Ireland’s cervical smear controversy.
The painting had been donated to Heroes Aid by the artist. Sheppard’s Irish Auction House kindly hosted the auction for free and donated their auctioneer’s fees to the charity also.
The portrait was bought by David Brennan from Mooncoin, Co Kilkenny, who is a family friend of Vicky Phelan’s. He has promised to bring the painting home to Mooncoin where he will allow it to go on public display. He has also given permission for the work to be taken on tour around Ireland, so that it can be seen by as many people as possible.
