Egg tempera on wood panel 18,3 x 67,3 (15" 3/4 X 26" 1/2) Robert L. B. Tobin collection This work was painted in response to his friend E.M. Forester's call for "tolerance, good temper, and sympathy." A personal allegory, this challenging composition puts Cadmus in the center, at work drawing, comforted by friends as various elements of order and disorder surround them. The painter, Forster, and dozens of other naked men and women sun at the shore, bravely, perhaps defiantly, oblivious of the apocalyptic forces massing in the background. A figure representing death expresses disgust at the wastes of hedonists while a disturbing Furher like mannequin summons a swarm of missiles from threatening clouds in the background.