John Henry Middleton

“ Federigo attained an eminence far beyond his very limited merits as a painter, and was perhaps the most popular artist of his generation. Probably no other painter has ever produced so many enormous frescoes crowded with figures on the most colossal scale, all executed under the unfortunate delusion that grandeur of effect could be attained merely by great size combined with extravagance of attitude and exaggeration of every kind. ”

“ His success as a painter of portraits and other works in oil was more reasonable than the admiration expressed for his colossal frescoes. A portrait of a “Man with Two Dogs,” in the Pitti Palace at Florence, is a work of some real merit, as is also the “Dead Christ and Angels” in the Borghese Gallery in Rome. Federigo was soon recalled to Rome to finish his work on the vault of the Pauline chapel. ”

“ In 1574 he passed over to England, where he received commissions to paint the portraits of Queen Elizabeth, Mary, queen of Scots, Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Francis Walsingham, Lord High Admiral Howard, and others. ”