Peter Van Valkenburgh was born in Greenbush, Wisconsin in 1870. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the American Academy of Art. In 1915 he moved to California, eventually locating in Piedmont, where he would live for the remainder of his life. In the 1930s he was commissioned by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration to execute portraits of eminent persons. Peter Van Valkenburgh died in 1955.
From the description of Peter Van Valkenburgh Federal Art Project portraits of eminent Americans [graphic]. 1938-1939. (University of California, Berkeley). WorldCat record id: 752650676