Career
He designed many hundred illustrated title-pages for sheet music in what Michael Bryan judged "a pretty, though weak, style" (which is odd, considering John Brandard was 9 years old when Michael Bryan died). John Brandard was baptized on 13 March 1812 at Street Martin"s church in Birmingham. He began his career as an engraver, mainly of commercial designs.
They had five children, one of whom, Walter Robert Brandard (1842–1869), was also briefly a designer of sheet music covers.
Brandard employed two full-time assistants, allowing him to produce artwork quickly and prolifically, mainly concentrating on ballet and opera. His portraits of dancers were admired by Degas.
He usually charged 20 guineas for his original artwork and lived well from the proceeds of his art Described as " an imposing, dandified figure", he would often arrive at theatres in Drury Lane or Covent Garden in his own coach and horses.
He was succeeded by Alfred Concanen as master of the illustrated sheet music cover.
John Brandard died at his home 8 Southampton Place in Chalk Farm, north London, on 15 December 1863. Collections of his work are held at Reading University, at the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library at the Bodleian Library in Oxford and the largest collection in America is with Lynch Resources in Edmonds, Washington