An Australian rugby visitor has bought Wellington Cathedral's "All Black Jesus" for an undisclosed sum.

The painting, by local artist Don Little, has been on display in St Paul's Cathedral for the past week and was advertised at $3000.

 Entitled New Zealand Icon, it depicts an All Black in the traditional setting of an icon.

It will now join a collection of rugby memorabilia in Canberra.

The Taita Pomare Project, a community initiative based at St Matthew's, Lower Hutt, will get $1000 from the sale.

Dean Frank Nelson has been fielding a flurry of media calls since the painting went on display.

But while it has shocked some people, Dean Frank says it set him thinking about the very real possibility of Jesus being reborn.

“Why wouldn’t he come back as an All Black?” Dean Frank mused.

"He'd have to be a scrum-half; he's the one that puts the ball in, definitely."

Dean Frank said the purpose of displaying the All Black icon in St Paul’s was to make people think about the Incarnation – the belief that God, in Christ, became human.

"Why is it that images of Jesus always seem to to show him belonging to another age?" Dean Frank asked. "The renaissance artists didn't hesitate to depict him dressed as a man of their times."