Patrick Hickey studied at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire, and moved to Dublin in 1948 to study architecture at University College Dublin. After graduating he worked for the architect Michael Scott. In 1957 he won an Italian state scholarship and studied etching and lithography at the Scuola del Libro, Urbino. In 1961 he helped found the Graphic Studio in Upper Mount Street, Dublin.

Hickey produced watercolors, etchings and lithographs, and showed a grasp for natural forms. His interest in Japanese painting is reflected in works like Illustration to WB Yeats, with its use of gold and silver. In 1965 the Italian government held a competition to illustrate Dante's Divine Comedy, and Hickey's eighteen Inferno etchings wo...