Depicts the allegorical figure of genius, crowned with a laurel wreath, painting and copying Titian's painting The Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr, originally in the Venetian church of San Giovanni e Paolo and now destroyed. In the centre of the composition is a self-portrait gazing at the viewer. This work is paired with the Genius of Sculpture (see 72 MCC), which is in the Palatine Gallery in Florence. It depicts the Italian artistic tradition, of which Mehus himself, through his self-portrait, is presented as a protagonist. Despite the works’ respective titles, their true protagonists are not the geniuses, nor even the defence of opposing artistic alternatives, but rather Mehus, who presents himself as a painter gifted with universal knowledge, who knows and esteems not only the art of Antiquity but also the most celebrated and legendary figures of his time, as well as their respective positions regarding drawing and colour, and their centres of production: Rome and Venice.