Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna made important contributions to the compositional techniques of Renaissance painting. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective by lowering the horizon in order to create a sense of greater monumentality. His stony, metallic landscapes and somewhat rocky figures give evidence of a fundamentally sculptural approach to painting. His human forms were distinguished for their solidity, expressiveness, and anatomical correctness. Mantegna developed a passionate interest in classical antiquity. The influence of both ancient Roman sculpture and the contemporary sculptor Donatello are clearly evident in Mantegna's rendering of the human figure. One of the key artistic figures of the second half of the 15th century, Mantegna was the dominant influence on north Italian painting for 50 years.