Friedrich Sustris (1540 – 1599) was born in Venice, Italy. His heritage was Dutch, but he never saw the Netherlands. Sustris trained with his father, Lambert, who became his greatest inspiration. Sustris visited Rome in 1560, after which he lived in Florence for 4 years, from 1563 to 1567. Here he was assisting Vasari Sustris from whom he inherited a palette of pale, broken colors. He also joined the Accademia del Disegno. It was in Germany that Sustris built his artistic legacy. From 1568 to 1573, he oversaw the decoration of a house in Augsburg. The house belonged to wealthy banker and this earned him a recommendation to the future Duke William V of Bavaria. Due to his hard work, he rose gradually from copyist and painter to become artistic director of William, and was charged with overseeing all artistic projects at his court.
Sustris produced designs for tapestry weavers, goldsmiths, stucco workers and sculptors, and organized a team of painters to decorate the palace interiors. Sustris designed the decoration of the Antiquarium, the first museum of antiquities in modern times and participated in design and reconstruction of a Jesuit church in Munich, one of the region's architectural monuments. He strongly influenced building decoration, and many admired his rich, elegant, and light motifs. His first principal was Hans Fugger who ordered the decoration of the Fugger mansion in Venice. Some of his other greatest pieces of works include remodeling and decoration of Trausnitz Castle in Landshut, expansion of the Residenz, Munich, and the work at the Old Academy and St. Michael's Church in Munich.
