It is not a picture that follows any compositional formula very closely. Yet, it is still organized with a high degree of definition. A question to ask is how Mantegna has organized the multitude of precisely executed detail into a composition where each one has its proper place and emphasis.
With Mantegna is was a particular form of classicism that was able to incorporate a taste for violence within the artistic expression. It was a vision of antiquity which as aggressively masculine in its animal like ferocity though carefully controlled. Here the composition is a variation on he triangular theme.