Wendell Teodoro/WireImage.comHeath Ledger has just been immortalized—and honored—in one more medium.
A haunting portrait of the late actor, painted by Melbourne artist Vincent Fantauzzo just weeks before the star's January death, has received the People's Choice Award at Australia's annual Archibald Prize art awards.
The prestigious award was unsurprisingly awarded to the artist after the exhibition was voted on by more than 32,000 people and became an unofficial shrine for the actor.
The artwork also placed second for the 2008 Archibald Prize, the nation's top prize for portraiture.
Fantauzzo turned down all offers—and there were plenty—to buy the portrait, instead giving it to Ledger's mother Sally Bell, who in turn donated the canvas to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.