Art gallery becomes Ledger shrine

Fairfax Media

RECORD CROWDS: Vincent Fantauzzo says he has been offered hundreds of thousands of dollars for his portrait of Heath Ledger.

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When Vincent Fantauzzo began sketching his friend Heath Ledger for an Archibald portrait, he had no idea it would become an unofficial shrine to the young actor.

But the picture has drawn record crowds, triggered a flood of emails and attracted six-figure offers.

The portrait is odds-on favourite to win the People's Choice Award in a landslide and its popularity has helped the Archibald exhibition draw twice the number of visitors as last year.

Fantauzzo, 29, has been overwhelmed by the public reaction to his painting.

"I've had thousands of emails. I still get between 20 and 50 every day," the Melbourne artist said.

"People say they feel like the painting is a tribute, something to remember him by, because it was more like him than his movies."

A spokeswoman for the Art Gallery of NSW confirmed the portrait was fuelling interest in the exhibition and yesterday a small crowd had again congregated around the picture.

"I think it's very good," said one visitor, Katherine.

"There's a great sadness about it."

When Ledger died in January, Fantauzzo considered withdrawing the portrait from the competition, but was convinced by the late actor's mother to enter it.

Numerous buyers have contacted Fantauzzo wanting to buy the painting. He has been offered "hundreds of thousands" of dollars, but will honour his promise to give the painting to Ledger's mother, Sally.

"I can't imagine it being anywhere else," he said.

The young painter didn't even think the portrait would be accepted by the prestigious prize when he first started work on it. "My confidence was a bit low so he [Ledger] kept trying to boost me up a bit. He kept saying, 'It's going to be great, it'll win'."

It didn't win the main prize, but has attracted far more attention than the other Archibald finalists.

Fantauzzo, who will speak at the gallery tonight, is finding the media spotlight hard to deal with, a trait shared by his late friend.

"I'm normally pretty private. I don't like having my photo taken," he said. "I kind of know a little bit how he feels in the painting."