[1] His father, the painter Ernst Sattler, was originally from the Schweinfurt area, but had, like other artists, been drawn to Tuscany.

[2] Between 1896 and 1898 Sattler studied architecture at the Dresden Technological Academy where his teachers included Paul Wallot and Cornelius Gurlitt.

Between 1925 and 1933 he served as director of the Royal Academy of Applied Arts ("Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule") in Munich, in succession to Richard Riemerschmid.

[5] In his late 60s by the time the war ended in 1945, Sattler nevertheless returned briefly to prominence, serving between 1946 and 1957 as the president of the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich.

[5] In 1948 his son, the architect-diplomat Dieter Sattler played a leading role in establishing the Bavarian Fine Arts Academy.