The figures in this painting are typical of the large muscular young men portrayed by Chia. The subject of this painting is effectively autobiographical, as the figures are painters. Commenting on the work, Chia wrote (with tongue in cheek): 'I would like to say that those two courageous boys are painters at work because courageous boys are either firemen or painters'. Chia was part of the 'transavanguardia' movement. He painted large, heroic figures, influenced by the masters of the Italian Renaissance, who seem to belong to some new, twentieth-century mythology.