First you notice John the Baptist’s pale face gazing longingly toward heaven. As you look further up the canvas, you see a shadowy, muscular figure holding a sword to the saint’s neck. Full of drama and realism, this is not a Renaissance oil painting. This is modern-day Catholic art. Now in the 30th year of his art career, Eric Armusik, 50, is a classical figurative artist based in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.  

“Through art, you can break barriers with people because our faith is beautiful; it’s absolutely beautiful,” he said. “I love the opportunities being in this kind of art. Every day is a blessing, waking up and being able to do it.”       

Armusik said he’s “the type of painter that would paint something 400 years ago,” taking inspiration from the Old Masters like Caravaggio, Artemisia Gentileschi and Tintoretto. Many of his charcoal sketches and oil paintings depict scenes from the Bible, lives of the saints and classical mythology. 

Drawn to epic storytelling, Armusik is currently painting Italian Renaissance poet Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy in 40 panels, each 4 foot by 5 foot. He started the process in 2016, though he had gotten the idea long before.  

“I was graduating college in the mid-’90s, and I read this rendition of it, and I just remember it had the most horrible artwork, and it was really modern, and very non-descriptive, and I’m thinking, ‘This is one of the most vibrant and picturesque stories probably of all time, why didn’t they have great art for it?’” 

He contacted Christopher Kleinhenz, a professor emeritus of Italian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to provide guidance on how to depict each character.  

“He’s able to bring his ability to depict religious themes into the very religious attitude of Dante, where we’re talking about the afterlife, the divine judgments on the sinners and those who’ve lived exceptional lives,” Kleinhenz said. “Eric is able in his presentations to convey many different shades of emotion and psychological moods, which is rare.” 

Many artists, even in the first decade after Dante’s death, have misrepresented The Divine Comedy, leading people to make wrong assumptions about the story, according to Kleinhenz. He said he was drawn to Armusik’s commitment to create a realistic depiction that’s true to the text.  

Over the past seven years, Kleinhenz has advised Armusik on accurately portraying the characters and their emotions in each scene.  

“What is going on in this scene? What is Virgil feeling? What is Dante feeling? What are they feeling towards each other? What’s their posture? There are so many nuances that I want to get across,” Armusik said. “It is the biggest thing that I’ve ever done; it will stretch me in ways that I am sure I can’t even conceive right now.” 

Armusik grew up in the coal mining town of Ashley, Pennsylvania, where Polish, Italian and Slavic immigrants once settled. Despite their poverty, these immigrants built churches with paintings on the ceiling, ornate murals and stained-glass windows. Although he didn’t receive formal art training until college, Armusik learned from the artwork of local parishes.  

“I got an education every Sunday,” he said. “Absolutely every Sunday.” 

Long before Armusik painted scenes from classical literature and the Gospels, he started, like many young boys, drawing dinosaurs and spaceships with No. 2 pencils in the blank pages of books. 

With a lasting love for art, Armusik studied art history, charcoal and oil painting at Pennsylvania State University. He spent a semester in Italy, where he saw his first Caravaggio painting, The Inspiration of St. Matthew.  

“You see art in its absolute magnificence the zenith of all Catholic art in Italy,” he said. “And seeing the Sistine Chapel, seeing all these magnificent things in the Vatican, and all over Rome and different parts of the country — it absolutely set me on the right course.” 

Although his professors were modern and postmodern in their approach, Armusik wanted to paint images from the classical and Catholic tradition, like those he had seen abroad. While his professors were critical of his ambitions, he pursued a career creating traditional art anyway. 

“Everybody said it was over, that the Church is in decline," he said. “But that wasn’t my experience.” 

Wanting to imitate his inspirations, Armusik taught himself to paint like the Old Masters, purchasing books and studying their techniques to depict similar classical and Christian subject matter.  

He took to the internet early in its popularity to promote his art. The more he advertised his work, the more priests commissioned him to create pieces for their parishes. 

Seeking to create realistic images, Armusik said he always uses models when depicting people so the viewer can better communicate with the person in the painting.  

“I always like Caravaggio’s honesty in painting human beings. He painted saints with dirty feet; he painted real people,” Armusik said. 

Early in Armusik’s career, he realized that there wasn’t much support or community for aspiring artists. In an effort to change this, he teaches private lessons both in person and virtually, and also offers apprenticeships. 

Marketa “Marky” Barto completed a five-year apprenticeship with Armusik in July. Originally from Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic, Barto grew up visiting sites with classical art and architecture. She studied art in the Netherlands before moving to the United States, where she hoped to continue her career. She then discovered Armusik’s private lessons and apprenticed with him.  

“My life took a turn from the moment I took my first one-on-one class with him,” she said. “His skills, professionalism, dedication and personality made a big impression on me. I loved that he painted exactly in the style I adored since my childhood, a style I grew up seeing everywhere around me and while traveling through Europe.” 

Armusik’s artwork has been featured in multiple churches around the world and more than a dozen art museums or galleries, including the National Arts Club in New York and the National Shrine of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, according to his website.  

“I hope that it’s very powerful and has a long legacy and brings many people back to the Church,” he said. “It’s been a long and fun trip, and I look forward to hopefully another 50 years.”