All that is known of Thomas Mertens' life from written documentation is that he was accepted to the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1670. A still life dated 1666 (Sotheby's New York, 22/04/15, lot 11, formerly Gallery Koetser, Zurich) provides a Further dated source for his oeuvre, dating his career to the latter half of the 1660s. Mertens is thought to be the son of Cornelis Mertens, the famous painter of still lifes active in Antwerp, and thus may have been his pupil. Like his father, Thomas Mertens, it seems he was influenced by the compositions and choice of motifs utilized by Jan Davidsz de Heem.cf. A. van of the willing and F. Meijer: A Dictionary of Dutch and Flemish Still - life Painters Working in Oils, 1525 - 1725, Leiden 2003, p 141f...