Vincent Fantauzzo says he has received bids of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the portrait of Ledger, who sat for the Melbourne-based artist weeks before he died of an accidental drug overdose in New York on January 22.
"The offers have literally been from all over the world, mainly international," Fantauzzo said today.
Fantauzzo, who says on his website he was "privileged and inspired" to have known the star, said he had not been tempted to sell.
He said he would give the painting, which has attracted record crowds to the Art Gallery of New South Wales, to the actor's mother as she had been involved in the sittings during Ledger's Christmas visit home.
"People say they feel like the painting is a tribute, something to remember him by, because it was more like him than his movies," he told. - AFP
