Anthony. As well as connecting the style to the later Age of Discovery, the role of Antwerp as a booming centre both of world trade and cartography, and the wealthy town-dweller's view of the countryside, art historians have explored the paintings as religious metaphors for the pilgrimage of life. Relationship to the Italian Renaissance The progressions in northern art developed almost simultaneously with the early Italian Renaissance. The philosophical and artistic traditions of the Mediterranean were not however part of the northern heritage, to the extent that many elements of Latin culture were actively disparaged in the north. The role of Renaissance humanism in art, for example, was less pronounced in the Low Countries than in Italy. Local religious trends had a strong influence on early northern art, as can be seen in the subject matter, composition and form of many late 13th- and early 14th-century artworks. The northern painters' doctrine was also built on elements of recent Gothic tradition, and less on the classical tradition prevalent in Italy. While devotional paintings – especially altarpieces – remained dominant in Early Netherlandish art, secular portraiture became increasingly common in both northern and southern Europe as artists freed themselves from the prevailing idea that portraiture should be restricted to saints and other religious figures. In Italy this development was tied to the ideals of humanism. Italian influences on Netherlandish art are first apparent in the late 15th century, when some of the painters began to travel south. This also explains why a number of later Netherlandish artists became associated with, in the words of art historian Rolf Toman, "picturesque gables, bloated, barrel-shaped columns, droll cartouches, 'twisted' figures, and stunningly unrealistic colours – actually employ[ing] the visual language of Mannerism". Wealthy northern merchants could afford to buy paintings from the top tier of artists. As a result, painters became increasingly aware of their status in society: they signed their works more often, painted portraits of themselves, and became well-known figures because of their artistic activities. The northern masters were greatly admired in Italy. According to Friedländer they exercised a strong influence over 15th-century Italian artists, a view Panofsky agrees with. However, Italian painters began to move beyond Netherlandish influences by the 1460s, as they concentrated on composition with a greater emphasis on harmony of parts belonging together – "that elegant harmony and grace ... which is called beauty", evident, for example, in Andrea