St. Francis in Meditation

36”x48” Oil on Canvas

Inspired by Caravaggio

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This piece reimagines Caravaggio's St. Francis — one of his most underrated works, where darkness itself feels like the true subject — by replacing the saint with a Native American figure. Much of the original remains intentionally intact: the halo, the quiet spirituality, the sense of connecting with something greater. The monk's robe becomes a blanket, the cross becomes a bow, and the human skull is replaced with a bison skull, grounding the piece in strength and abundance rather than mortality alone. Even the halo carries this dual meaning, gaining four prongs that echo a sun symbol alongside its traditional form. St. Francis was known above all for his deep connection to nature and animals — a connection that finds its perfect counterpart in the Native man and the bison skull, two figures bound by the same truth: a oneness with the natural world. The result is a painting suspended between two belief systems, finding quiet peace where Catholicism and Native spirituality meet.