M-511 Leopold Gast & Brother Lithograph Company

These graphite drawings were the work of the Leopold Gast & Brother Lithograph Company, St. Louis, Missouri in the mid-19th century. Some drawings are signed by the artists that include John Gast (1842-1896), Leopold Gast (1810-1898), Paulus Roetter (1806-1894), and Theodore Anders, however most are unsigned. The company was founded in St. Louis in 1852 by brothers Leopold and August Gast (1819-1891). The pair and their families immigrated from Germany in 1848 and brought with them their lithographic press. They started a successful printing company, originally called Leopold Gast & Brother Lithograph Company, which Leopold ran from 1852 to 1866 when he sold his share to his brother August.
St. Louis Mercantile Library Art Museum