Orlando Vincent Schubert (1844-1928)

Isaac Leisy and Co. Lager Beer Wagon

American: 1877

Signed and dated “Schubert 77” lower left

Pen, ink wash, and gouache on paper

Sheet size: 11 x 16 ¼”

Original advertising illustration art of a man driving a rectangular beer wagon with big spoked wheels, drawn by two horses down a rural road. A man in a top hat waves to the driver. The side of the cart is decorated with the emblem of Isaac Leisy & Co. Lager Beer, a brewery based in Cleveland, Ohio, which includes an oval stating "Bottled by Hogg & Catoir. Corner Woodland & Wilson Ave's." The bottom horizontal panel of the cart is painted "Cleveland O," the letters partially obscured by the wagon wheel. Along the horizontal frieze of the canopy of the wagon is lettered "Milwaukee Rochester & Imported Bav[a]rian Beer." 
 
This drawing made in the early years of the Isaac Leisy brewery, which was founded in 1873. It is on thick, toned, tan-colored textured watercolor paper, highlighted with white gouache. The artist corrected the lettering on the canopy with a small caret, adding an "a" between the "v" and the "r" of "Bavrian." This correction indicates that this might have been a working drawing, possibly for later reproduction in print. 
 
Orlando Vincent Schubert was an American illustration artist. He also did numerous drawings and paintings in watercolor, including landscapes.  Isaac Leisy & Co. was a Cleveland brewery initially founded by three brothers from Bavaria by way of Iowa in 1873. Isaac Leisy soon bought out his brothers. In the mid-1880s, Leisy significantly expanded operations, building an eight-acre campus on Cleveland's Vega Avenue. Aside from a 10-year break in operations during Prohibition, the company remained in business as an independent, family-owned brewery until it closed in 1958. Most of the buildings were demolished in the 1970s, except for a five-story brick building on Vega Avenue. That building was purchased in 2015 by a pair of entrepreneurs. They are redeveloping the former Leisy building as a contract brewery called Gypsy Brewing, where microbreweries who want to scale up their operations can rent the production facilities.
 
References:
McFee, Michelle Jarboe. "Leisy Brewing Co. will see beer flow again, under Ohio City contract-brewing plan." Cleveland Plain Dealer. 29 March 2015.http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2015/03/leisy_brewing_co_building_will.html (9 April 2016).
Rotman, Michael "Leisy Brewery."