Title from item.
Caption continues: "Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ... out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." (Genesis. III. 17-19.) The Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. (ib. 23).
Original drawing by E.J. Sullivan, evidently intended as an illustration for an unidentified publication.
At top, in pen and ink: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake ... Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ... out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shall thou return." (Genesis. III. 17-19.) The Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. (ib. 23); in pencil at foot at left: Fagging iron(?), shears, penny knife, saw, bill hook; at right: what o'clocks, nettles, docks, stones, teazles.
Drawing shows a bearded old man dressed in country work clothes, carrying a basket with a sickle in one hand, and an armload of tools over his shoulder; he stands byeside a fence, surrounded by brambles and thistles, with the skeleton of a goat or sheep visible among the weeds in the foreground.