Known in Italy as Giovanni Paolo Tedesco, Johan Paul Schor was active as a painter, architect and designer. Born in the Tyrol, he received his training as a painter and dekorationsingenieur in Austria before settling in Rome around 1640. A member of the Accademia di San Luca from 1654, Schor worked under Pietro da Cortona on the fresco decoration of the Palazzo del Quirinale, and with Gian Lorenzo Bernini at St. Peter’s in the 1650’s. His association with Bernini lasted for several years, and he is known to have directed several projects for the master. Bernini must have had particular confidence in Schor’s abilities, as he employed him in a supervisory capacity on several of his decorative projects; for example he is named as soprintendente ai lavori for the decoration of the Chigi chapel in the Duomo in Siena.

Schor created numerous designs for furniture, textiles, metalwork and other objects. Indeed, Bernini is reported to have said of him, ‘He would say: Do you want a coach? and straight away design one; or a chair, or some silverwork? And so on for everything.’1 Bernini even recommended Schor to the court of Louis XIV as a designer.

Schor developed a particular reputation as a designer of ornate carriages. Among the large number of drawings by Schor in the collection of the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in Rome are several similar designs for carriage decorations. The present work may be compared with the drawing for carriage panels in the Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica in Rome: Inv. FC131095; Gernsheim 76265.