Andrea Mantegna

Andrea Mantegna was a painter and engraver from near Padua, trained there and steeped in Roman archaeology, who became court painter to the Gonzaga in Mantua. His Camera degli Sposi in the Ducal Palace at Mantua, with its painted ceiling oculus, is a landmark of illusionism, and his Lamentation over the Dead Christ in the Brera is famous for its steep foreshortening. He married into the Bellini family and influenced Giovanni Bellini. His nine canvases of The Triumphs of Caesar are in the Royal Collection at Hampton Court, and the National Gallery has his Agony in the Garden.