Gerrit Beneker began his art career in 1905 as an illustrator. Early on, he was passionate about creating work that celebrated and honored working people within their environments, particularly New York City’s bridges, tunnels, and skyscrapers. Known for his portraits and poster illustrations created during the war effort, Beneker also painted landscapes, still lifes, and scenes of the mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont. In 1912, he became a student of Charles Webster Hawthorne at the Cape Cod School of Art. Eight years later, he purchased a summer home in Truro, Massachusetts, near the location depicted in this work, Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.