Shown on the left of this grouping, Christopher Beekman (1733/34–1829) was the great-great-grandfather of the Biggs Museum’s founder, Sewell C. Biggs. Abraham (1787–1877) and Elizabeth (1791–1864) were his son and daughter-in-law. Descended from the early Dutch colonists of New York City, the Beekmans were successful farmers outside Griggstown, New Jersey. The painter of these works, James Van Dyck, may have been related to the Beekmans by marriage and likely worked as an itinerant painter in northern New Jersey and New York for several years.