A replica of an historic painting of The Consecration of St Mary’s, Pope’s Quay, has been presented by Dublin auctioneer’s Whyte’s to the Cork Dominican church and priory.

The original was sold by Whyte’s in September 2015. It was bought for the collection of Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut.

They paid €19,000 on the hammer for the c1842 work estimated at €8,000-€10,000. St Mary’s was the disappointed underbidder.

“We felt very sorry that they didn’t get it” said Ian Whyte.

“We got permission from the Famine Museum to create a full sized replica and this was finally completed and framed just before Christmas and we were delighted it arrived at St Mary’s, where it can be appreciated by the people of Cork and visitors to the city”.

The work had been presented to Kearns Deane, architect of St Mary’s and had been passed down through the Deane family. At the time it was auctioned, it had not been seen in public since being shown at the RHA in 1842.

It depicts the ceremony in the newly built Catholic church shortly after Catholic emancipation and includes the figure of Daniel O’Connell in the congregation. The foundation stone of St Mary’s was laid in 1832 and it opened in 1839.

The Cork artist James Mahony is best known for his harrowing illustrations of the Irish famine for the Illustrated London News.

According to art historian, Dr Julian Campbell, his illustrations were admired by, among others, Vincent van Gogh.

St Mary’s have placed the painting in the sanctuary and will install overhead lighting to ensure that it can be easily seen and appreciated by all visitors.