Painted near Wheeling, West Virginia, it is conceived in a naturalistic style featuring realistic anatomical depictions of men and boys similar to that of Thomas Eakins, although Eakins never painted industrial subjects.

Some of the figures are depicted in a classical pose, such as the man in the foreground rubbing his arm.

[2] The piece was exhibited at the Philadelphia Sketch Club in 1881 and compared to Eakin's work by art critics.

Art historian Randall C. Griffin has written of it: "One of the first American paintings to depict the bleakness of factory life, The Ironworkers' Noontime appears to be a clear indictment of industrialization.

Its brutal candor startled critics, who saw it as unexpectedly confrontational—a chilling industrial snapshot not the least picturesque or sublime.