In this pencil drawing, we see a statuesque male figure walking purposefully and holding a hammer, the tool of his trade. Beuys had a cousin who was a blacksmith and the artist showed an early interest in the trade, learning how to cast and forge iron when he was young. However, in later years, he would undoubtedly have been interested in the science behind the process and the changes that takes place in the metal to allow it to be shaped and formed. Blacksmiths appear in the legends of many cultures. Widely knowledgeable on legend and folklore, Beuys would have been aware of the Roman God Vulcan and the blacksmith Wayland Smith from Germanic legend.