A painting of late actor Heath Ledger has won a prestigious Australian art prize.

The portrait, titled Heath and painted by Ledger’s friend Vincent Fantauzzo, landed the prestigious People’s Choice honor at the Archibald Prize art awards on Friday morning.

Ledger sat for the painting just weeks before he died of a drugs overdose in January, and the finished artwork sees the actor bare-chested and surrounded by two other whispering versions of himself.

Fantuazzo’s painting came second in the race for the main award - with a picture by Del Kathryn Barton taking the coveted Archibald Portrait Prize.

The artist turned down all offers to buy the picture - which drew record crowds to the exhibition - giving it instead to Ledger’s mother Sally, who decided to donate the canvas to the Art Gallery of New South Wales.