Livio Mehus

1630 – 1691

Flemish painter and draughtsman, active mainly in Florence. After an obscure training in Milan with a battle-painter, he traveled at the age of 15 years to Rome, where he was a pupil of the painter Pietro da Cortona, and often worked with Ciro Ferri. In Florence, he had extensive patronage from the Medici family. From Florence, he left to join theater players for the Duke of Savoy in Turin, but after three years he returned to painting in Florence, where he joined Stefano della Bella. He assisted in the decoration of the cupola of the church of La Pace at Florence. Mehus painted allegorical and mythological scenes, landscapes and religious works. He was an eclectic artist, drawing on a wide variety of sources to create a highly individual and innovative style. His art united Venetian colour with elements of the proto-romanticism of Salvator Rosa, Pier Francesco Mola and Pietro Testa, and he was also inspired by Genoese, Bolognese and Flemish sources.

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