
The Dragon of Brno

by Daniel Eskridge
Title
The Dragon of Brno
Artist
Daniel Eskridge
Medium
Digital Art - Digital Painting
Description
The Dragon of Brno
A scaly beast climbs up onto a mossy log from a dark forest pool. Surrounded by dense forest, this menacing monster has an elongated jaw full of jagged teeth, and it looks ready to snap them down on some unsuspecting passerby.
This beast is obviously a crocodile, but it's in the wrong place. Rather than living in tropical wetlands, this particular animal finds itself in a temperate forest.
There are a lot of dragons in European folklore, but one particular story caught my interest: The Dragon of Brno. Brno is a city in the Czech Republic. The story tells of a dragon terrorizing the town and devouring livestock. Eventually it is killed by a traveling butcher who poisons it by feeding it an ox hide filled with lime. Various other towns in the area have very similar legends all with the dragon being poisoned by a butcher in the end.
What makes this story particularly unusual though is that it has evidence. Hanging in the town hall of Brno is the carcass of the dragon, and...guess what...it's clearly the body a crocodile.
Now imagine going back a few centuries to a time when travel was never faster than the speed of a horse. Though they may have heard of such an animal, it's highly unlikely that most of the people of a central European town had ever actually seen a crocodile. So, if a crocodile somehow wound up in a nearby body of water, one could easily understand that such a creature would be identified as a dragon. Though, of course, it is entirely possible that the croc body was placed in the town hall at a later date and just named after the legendary dragon.
On a side note, such an event recently happened near me. I live in north Georgia where begin the Piedmont Plateau there should be no wild alligators. Yet a large one was recently trapped on the Chattahoochee river. Perhaps that inspired me a bit to depict a crocodile in my art.
How I make art like this: http://fineartbydaniel.com/2017/12/18/how-i-make-art-3d-rendering/
Tools I used to make this: http://fineartbydaniel.com/resources/
Thanks for looking!
Daniel Eskridge
Uploaded
March 15th, 2018
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Comments (23)

Reynold Jay
I saw this in today's newsletter and read your description with interest. I found a crocodile cult in Egypt where they worshiped the critters. I used this in the Gold of Mansa Musa and my hero and heroine discover the mummified remains in a museum in Cario. Yes--it is there to this day. My heroine becomes trapped in a forgotten pyramid and has a dream where she is a human sacrifice to the ole fella in a bizarre scared ritual! Your rendition presented here is very likely the most beautiful croc art ever ! FAVORITE.

Donna Kennedy
Fantastic artwork Daniel, Congratulations on your Feature of the Week in Digital Art And Photography For A Simple Imagination!!...L

Hartmut Jager
Congratulation Daniel for being the FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK for your excellent Brno Dragon ! :-)

Debra Lynch
Wonderful art Daniel, congratulations on being featured artist of the week. Amazing description and art.. L/F

Alana Thrower
Congratulations on being featured artist of the week! Wonderful image with intriguing story! l/f/g+/t/p

Swedish Attitude Design
Dear Daniel! What a amazing and inspiring work! I think im gonna learn alot from you regrd Digital Art! With that sad: CONGRATULATIONS TO BE THE FEATURED ARTIST OF THE WEEK in my group: Digital Art And Photography For A Simple Imagination You can find your solo here: https://fineartamerica.com/groups/digital-art-and-photography-for-a-simple-imagination.html?tab=overview