During the Southern Dynasties period, Mao Leng of Southern Qi, along with his father Mao Huiyuan and uncle Mao Huixiu, were all renowned painters.

Their works each possessed unique strengths and weaknesses. Huiyuan's paintings were characterized by their free-flowing and unconstrained style, while Huixiu's were meticulously detailed and precise.

Mao Leng's compositions, however, were not considered as skilled as those of his father and uncle. Although he painted swiftly, his brushwork lacked ingenuity. His compositional style was described as piling one bed upon another or building one house on top of another, indicating a lack of originality and excessive redundancy.