KEY POINTS:
An auction of well-known New Zealanders' portraits raised nearly $40,000 last night in Auckland.
The highest bid of the night was for a Lucy Lawless portrait, which went for $11,000.
The portraits were painted by Stephen "Marty" Welch for TVNZ's digital channel TVNZ 6's art series The Sitting.
Portraits of Lawless, Kevin Milne, Luke Thompson, Mike Hosking, Buckwheat, Suzanne Paul, Pam Corkery, Ian Mune, Jan Maree, Sunday Holiday, Jacob Rajan, Tau Maukia and Ian Stables went under the hammer.
All the portraits will now hang for two months in the National Portrait Gallery in Wellington before going to their new owners.
- NZPA
