At the left Thetis (with seaweed or reeds in her hair) takes the helmet for Achilles; Vulcan's right hand holds a shield which a cupid also clasps. Another cupid is in the background. The source is the Iliad (Book XVIII lines 368 ff). Thetis has gone to Vulcan's forge to beg the god to make armour for her son fighting in the Trojan War. Homer describes the wonderful armour in detail. Venus also begged armour for her son Aeneas, and in paintings the presence of Cupid or cupids usually indicates that scene. There is no doubt, however, that Thetis is rightly identified here, and Balestra has perhaps added the cupids for decorative effect.

The painting is pendant to The Centaur Chiron Receiving the Infant Achilles by Balestra 404979 and both are recorded in the Library at Buckingham House in the reign of George III. The pair probably date from c. 1715 and are close in style to a pair of allegories at Pommersfelden which are likely to have been commissioned at about that date.

Two other paintings similar in style, format and composition at Melnik have been related to this pair. The Melnik paintings have been dated 1710-25.