Sarkozy's father paints Carla Bruni

London, Nicolas Sarkozy's father has painted the French President's lover Carla Bruni on a large canvas as a wedding gift for the former supermodel, who has been instrumental in bringing the father and son closer after years of estrangement.

The canvas was a wedding gift for Carla, described by 82-year-old Pal Sarkozy as an"adorable girl". He recently admitted in Le Figaro Magazine his painting career had been given a huge boost by his famous son, whose position"helps me enormously".

"There is a rose on the piano," Pal was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph while promoting the show,"as a symbol of the openness of Nicolas to the political Left, but also an emblem of love."

The centrepiece will be a large canvas of the former supermodel and singer strumming a guitar while seated on a piano while her husband is featured nearby at his desk, according to the report.

The French president married Carla after a whirlwind romance in 2008.Even as critics have often mocked the kitsch canvases of senior Sarkozy, a former advertising designer, the rise of his famous son will ensure that his huge paintings will grace the select Espace Pierre Cardin in a one-man show in April.

Many of his works feature naked women against surrealist backdrops.

According to biographers, the President had a very uneasy relationship with his father, who abandoned his mother and her three sons when Nicolas was five.