These portraits show three generations of a prominent German-Jewish family in New York City: Abigaill Levy Franks, her husband Jacob Franks, four of the couple’s nine children, and Abigaill’s father, Moses Raphael Levy. All of the figures wear fine clothing, indicating the family’s wealth. The ship in the background of Moses’s portrait signals his success as a merchant.

Life in the colonies presented opportunity but also cultural change that tested family bonds. Letters by Abigaill reveal she worried her children might lose their sense of Jewish identity.