PADRE PIO EXHIBITION, MONACO, JUNE 2002

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

After a difficult night battling the devil.

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PAPA DUKE PAINTING PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

PADRE PIO

The first PAPA DUKE ever heard of Padre Pio was when an Italian janitor in his apartment building asked him to paint a portrait of the monk from San Giovanni Rotondo.

The janitor was very ill and about to enter hospital for life-or-death surgery. He wanted to pray to an icon of Padre Pio, who was later (in 2002) canonized a saint.

Papa Duke asked the janitor for photographs, and obliged him with a painting. The janitor prayed to it and miraculously recovered.

Papa Duke could not shake the image of Padre Pio from his mind. Like a man possessed, he continued to paint dozens of portraits of Padre Pio. He gave them to friends with terminal illnesses and watched in amazement as they recovered.

PADRE PIO

Today is All Saints Day, a national holiday in much of Europe.

And so, another portrait of Padre Pio, to whom Papa Duke felt a strong attachment.

PADRE PIO EXHIBITION

In June 2002, Papa Duke's portraits of Padre Pio were exhibited, to great acclaim, at a gallery in Monaco.

PADRE PIO

Oil-on-Board, 23 x 19, circa 2000

PADRE PIO

This astonishing life-size portrait of Padre Pio (now Saint Pio) hangs in St. Nicholas Cathedral on The Rock in Monaco Ville.

Oil-on-canvas, circa 2000.

PADRE PIO

Oil-on-board, 9.5 x 7.5, 1998.