Ludwig Knaus (5 October 1829 - 7 December 1910) was a German genre painter of the younger Düsseldorf School of painting. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Karl Frederick Sohn and Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow in Düsseldorf. His early works, such as The Gamblers in the Düsseldorf Gallery, are in the manner of that school, being dark and heavy in color. This deficiency was remedied by study at Paris, whither he went in 1852 and enrolled as a pupil of Thomas Couture.

In 1853 his Morning after the Kermess received the second gold Medal of the Salon and made him a celebrated painter. Except for a year's study in Italy he remained in Paris until 1860. His chief works of this period include The Golde...