In the Anchor-Forge at Söderfors. The Smiths Hard at Work

Furnaces and smithies were a recurring subject for Pehr Hilleström, who found in work done by fire the chance for the most effective lighting and the most dramatic settings. In the anchor smithy at Söderfors the smiths bend over their anvil in a room wrapped in the glow of the forge, the white light of the hearth set against the warmer tones of the workers and the walls; the drama and movement come from the silhouettes of the men and the shadows thrown by the fire. Hilleström, the leading Swedish painter of interiors and genre in the Gustavian age, pictures the ironworks that were among the kingdom’s proudest industries with the same observant eye he turned on drawing-rooms and kitchens. The canvas is dated 1781. The painting is held in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.