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Ledger Portrait

Amid the sorrow, a different kind of portrait emerges.

Editorial Review

As the world grieves the loss of Heath Ledger, there is no doubt that his memory will live on in the plethora of films in which he has starred. However the actor was calso captured on canvas.

Vincent Fantauzzo, a friend of Ledger's, has revealed that the actor sat for him in Perth during his Christmas holiday there before his tragic death. Ledger was aware that the portrait was going to be entered in the Archibald Prize contest and was said to have been happy with the triplicate, although he never got to see the finished product.

Fantauzzo, pausing in his own grief, completed the work and had the family's blessing to enter it into the competition. He said, "[Ledger's family] really want me to enter it and his Mum asked if she could have the painting after the Archibald. So I'm planning to give it to her."

Fantauzzo delivered the portrait to the NSW Art Gallery on 20 Februaryto see if the judging panel would choose it as one of the final 35 paintings. With 650 entries it was a tough field and there was no guarantee that the esteemed trustees and gallery director Edmund Capon would even give it a nod.

Emma McGowan