Livio Mehus

In the 16th century Oudenaarde had been a prosperous city thanks to its tapestry industry but had since suffered from a long-time economic slump mainly caused by the wars ravaging the Southern Netherlands regularly.

Some art historians have identified this artist with Karel Philips Spierincks, a Flemish landscape painter from Brussels who achieved a measure of success but died young in Rome.

Prince Mattias was the third son of the ruler of Florence Grand Duke Cosimo II de' Medici of Tuscany and Archduchess Maria Maddalena of Austria.

In Florence the prince arranged for Mehus to work with the important painter Pietro da Cortona who had been in charge of the decoration of the Palazzo Pitti for a few years.

According to the 17th century Italian biographer Filippo Baldinucci, Mehus served for about three years as a soldier in the wars against Spain in Piedmont and Lombardy.

Back in Florence, Mehus got to know the Florentine engraver Stefano della Bella who had just returned from a long-term stay in France.

A majority of Mehus' works representing battles and landscapes are in private collections while various altarpieces and canvases with religious and mythological subjects are on display in churches and museums.

[5] Livio Mehus was also sought out as a figure painter and painted the staffage in the landscapes of Crescenzio Onofri, a pupil of Gaspard Dughet.