This painting has been subjected to a variety of interpretations. It represents two figures from Greek mythology, the teachers of humanity: Vulcan, the god of Fire, and Aeolus, the god of the winds. These gods taught mankind the rudiments of living in society, the beginnings of civilization - through the harnessing of Fire, taught by Vulcan, shown with his anvil, and through the domestication of animals, mastered by Aeolus, who is holding the bellows.