Will The Archibald Prize Judges Give The Sympathy Vote To Ledger Portrait?

You may have read during the first flush of press frenzy immediately following Heath Ledger’s death that a Perth artist had released images of an almost-finished portrait (detail at left) that the actor had sat for in late-2007. And while Ledger had been relaxed and happy during his sittings, the moody painting took on an altogether more chilling vibe in light of Ledger’s reportedly troubled final days.

Well, as though it wasn’t already a fait accompli, the artist – Vincent Fantauzzo – will be entering the painting in this year’s Archibald Prize.

Ledger appears three times in the painting, which is titled Heath. In the central figure, he looks haunted and intense. On either side, he whispers secretively to himself from behind a shielding hand.

It is a dark painting in which the actor, who died in New York just weeks after the sitting, appears to be assailed by mischievous mind-spirits.

Fantauzzo yesterday delivered the painting to the Art Gallery of NSW as an entry in the Archibald Prize.

He said Ledger had been excited about the portrait, had known it was to be an Archibald entry and had thrown himself into the sittings.

“He was looking forward to everything to come,” Fantauzzo said.

Ledger and Fantauzzo worked together on the portrait’s concept. One of the secondary figures was originally going to be screaming, but Fantauzzo scrapped the idea as being too dominating for the central figure.

He said the whispering in the painting represented Ledger’s inner thoughts which, as a private man, he was inclined to withhold.

“I guess it’s the whispering, the voices, the frustration or something comical – all the different ways that we might be thinking in our own mind,” Fantauzzo said.

Even if Fantauzzo doesn’t come away with the prize (likely, particularly in light of the judges’ recent predilection for charcoal sketches), he’d have to be a sure bet for either the People’s Choice or Packing Room gongs, wouldn’t he?