A painting of a Co Tipperary chemist’s shop is to go on public view in London’s New Bond Street – one of the world’s most exclusive and expensive streets where shops include Apsrey, Cartier, Chanel, Hermès and Louis Vuitton.
The painting, titled Prescriptions Accurately Prepared, by John Doherty, shows the front of D.W. Parke – chemist and optician – at Gladstone Street in Clonmel,
It will be shown at Sotheby’s saleroom where it will go under the hammer in September’s Irish Art sale, one of the key events in the art market calendar.
The acrylic on canvas, measuring 32 by 47 ½ inches, has been assigned a top pre-auction estimate of £20,000 (approximately €23,900). But the magnificent shopfront depicted in the painting has deteriorated significantly since the shop closed a few years ago.
Despite being listed as a protected structure by the local authority, the pharmacy has been allowed to fall into disrepair – the windows are broken and the timber front and railings are deteriorating – as seen in a photograph taken this week [far right] .
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, run by the Department of Arts, Heritage and and the Gaeltacht, has documented the building as “a notable feature on the streetscape” in Clonmel and noted that “the well-crafted and designed shopfront is an unusual feature in a town whose shopfronts are largely recent and, along with the cast iron railings, adds considerable artistic interest to the site”. Mr Doherty is an architect-turned- painter who is well-known for his paintings of Irish shops and pubs.
He was born in Kilkenny in 1949, studied architecture at Bolton Street College of Technology (today DIT) and lived for some years in Australia before settling in West Cork. The record price for one of his paintings at auction was achieved at Adam's in Dublin, in 2007, when Maxol Lubrication, Dingle sold for €84,000.
The Irish Art sale at Sotheby’s ison Tuesday, September 13th.
