just workmen preforming every-day procedures with physical exertions much like doing steaks on a grill.
I didn't see the film, and maybe the paintings have some exageration in the worksmans blows, but in the real picture the gent holding that 6-8 lb. hammer with the 24"+ long handle isn't for show. If he didn't need it that long he would have cut it. Forming steel and getting it round is not going to be done without some force, later on the need for heavier striking is over.
As far as the nude with the cherub, you know as well as I do that it was common then for the commissioner to have the painter include them.
