Born in 1797 in the part of York County, Pennsylvania, that became Adams County in 1800, Bard and his family lived in Germany Township, located in southern Adams County, on the border with Frederick County, Maryland.⁵ Bard and Maria Baughman (1810–⁠1850) were married at an unknown date, and the couple would have five children.⁶ By 1846, Bard had moved north to Union Township, and his parents are documented as living there in 1850.⁷ In addition to the birth of his daughter, Mary Ann, in 1830, the year would be important for Bard for another reason. His name appears in the 1830 Federal Census as “John Bart,” immediately followed by his father, “Philip Bart.” Both father and son had apparently anglicized their names by that year. Changing Johannes to John merely translated his German name to its English equivalent, whereas altering Bard to Bart is so minor a change as to make it seem unnecessary. Anglicizing his name may have helped further Bard’s assimilation into the wider culture. He would be identified as John Bart in newspapers and public records after 1830, but he maintained his German identity in his art, signing his fraktur consistently Johann or Johannes Bard.

The reason for the six-year gap between the last works in Bard’s book of watercolor exercises and the earliest dated fraktur is not known. He conceivably produced fraktur before 1827 which has yet to be located. The 1820 Federal Census lists his father, Philip, and one male between sixteen and twenty-six years of age, which presumably identifies Johannes.⁸ Bard was living at his parents’ home in Germany Township, devising a program of self-instruction to learn watercolor painting and calligraphy, besides likely working his father’s farm. How Bard obtained a copy of Johann Gottfried Weber’s 1780 calligraphy manual is unknown, but he put it to good use. Applying lessons learned from Weber’s book, he produced fraktur for clients in Pennsylvania’s Adams and York Counties, and in Frederick County, Maryland, as an additional source of income. Bard’s early copywork may be a unique survival of the self-training that other fraktur artists used to gain the skills to create fraktur for the German-American community.

The symmetrical design of Bard’s fraktur features carefully rendered naturalistic motifs and meticulous calligraphy. Varying only in colors, patterns, and occasionally in the flowers depicted, the sheets are centered by a large heart with a scalloped border. Three identical but smaller hearts are placed at the bottom center and corners, with the middle one is reserved for Bard’s signature and date. Letters and numbers in combination, whose significance is unknown, also appear in the signature heart. Inscribed in precise penmanship in the large heart is biographical information about the recipient in nine rows of alternating red and blue ink. Below are four rows of religious text in smaller red ink, and additional religious texts are inscribed in the small hearts at the bottom corners. Across the top of the sheet are large tulip flowers in the corners flanked by circular scalloped flowers and leaves. Eight-pointed stars are placed on either side of the central motif: an eagle taken from the Great Seal of the United States. Holding arrows of war and an olive branch of peace, the eagle and its placement make it a central focus, providing a clear link to the birthplace of the recipient. The eagle and shield appeared in 1827 on Bard’s earliest known fraktur, suggesting perhaps he incorporated this motif about the time he Anglicized his name. By 1827, Bard was providing clients fraktur that proclaimed their American identity and the German-American cultural traditions that defined their community.

Bard’s composition shows a gradual trend among fraktur artists in combining German and American iconography. He may have first encountered this in printed fraktur produced by printers Johann Starck and Daniel Philip Lange during their partnership in Hanover from 1805 to 1816.⁹ One design they printed in 1812 bore a large heart in the center, two small hearts in the lower corners, and the eagle from the Great Seal at the top (Fig. 6). Starck and Lange’s prints circulated widely, giving Bard ample opportunities to become familiar with it. Fraktur produced by another local artist, Adam Wuertz (act. 1813–⁠1836), a contemporary of Bard, shows both artists relied on Starck and Lange’s prints for their compositions, with both adding scallops to hearts (Fig. 7). It has been suggested that Bard was a student of George Peter Deisert (act. 1794–⁠c.1815), who also worked in Adams County.¹⁰ However, Deisert’s period of activity appears to have ended before Bard completed his earliest known fraktur. Bard may have been familiar with Deisert’s fraktur, but printed fraktur more probably was the basis for parallels in the work of both artists.