How did Andrea del Castagno influence Andrea Mantegna's early style?

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Andrea Mantegna: Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga — Andrea Mantegna *Arrival of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga*, fresco by Andrea Mantegna, completed 1474; in the Camera degli Sposi, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy.

Andrea del Castagno influenced Andrea Mantegna’s early style by introducing him to the monumental Tuscan figure style. When Castagno traveled to Venice in 1442, he brought this aesthetic with him, and Mantegna is believed to have encountered these works—specifically Castagno's frescoes of evangelists and saints in the church of San Zaccaria—during his own visit to Venice in 1447.1

This exposure served as a foundational starting point for Mantegna, providing him with an early model of antique revival that emphasized sculptural, monumental forms. This influence helped shape Mantegna's artistic development before he later engaged in a more complex, dialectical struggle with the sculptural works of Donatello in Padua.1