American Illustration 33 Winners

The cruel Grendel is attacking the hall Heorort (from the illustrated edition of Beowulf)

The cruel Grendel is attacking the hall Heorort (from the illustrated edition of Beowulf). Beowulf is an old English heroic epic poem set in Scandinavia in the 6th-century, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature, c. 975–1025. This epic poem concerns itself with Christianity, internal and external evils, and the warriors defeating monsters. The mighty warrior Beowulf offers to help the King of the Danes in a quest to kill the vicious monster Grendel and free his people from terror. About this image: The cruel Grendel is attacking the hall Heorort. Grendel attacks the hall for twelve winters straight, destroying more and more men every night with no remorse. Grendel is a ruthless caniball and he ruthlessly eats his victims. The Hall Heorot is a drinking hall, and most of the warriors stand no chance against Grendel. They are drunk and are not able to attack Grendel. That is part of the reason Hrothgar wants Beowulf to fight Grendel. After the historical and iconographic research we designed the monsters. Our major reference were the bestiary medieval and the work of Ulysses Aldrovandi entitled "Monstrorum historia cum Paralipomenis historiae omnium animalium" (Bologna, 1642). Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, he is considered the founder of modern Natural History.