Watermark: J. Whatman 1981 (partially cut-off).
In the late 1940s, Cadmus made a series of paintings devoted to the seven deadly sins. In 1982 he decided to add an eighth sin, jealousy, which he described as "a combination of all the sins." This drawing is preparatory for the 1983 painting, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Cadmus represented jealousy as a green-faced figure sitting on an active volcano, gnawing on its own heart. It is "neither male nor female," he explained, "or a little bit of each."
Inscribed in crayon at lower left, "Jealousy"; signed in crayon at lower right, "Cadmus" and inscribed, "Sitting on a volcano"; inscribed in graphite in right margin, "heart more sideways", "envy / pride / lust / anger / gluttony / avarice", "lava / flames", "The Nth Sin".