Get a Knaus Certificate of Authenticity for your painting (COA) for your Knaus drawing.

For all your Knaus artworks you need a Certificate of Authenticity (COA) in order to sell, to insure or to donate for a tax deduction.

Getting a Knaus Certificate of Authenticity (COA) is easy. Just send us photos and dimensions and tell us what you know about the origin or history of your Knaus painting or drawing.

If you want to sell your Knaus painting or drawing use our selling services. We offer Knaus selling help, selling advice, private treaty sales and full brokerage.

We have been authenticating Knaus and issuing certificates of authenticity since 2002. We are recognized Knaus experts and Knaus certified appraisers. We issue COAs and appraisals for all Knaus artworks.

Our Knaus paintings and drawings authentications are accepted and respected worldwide.

Each COA is backed by in-depth research and analysis authentication reports.

The Knaus certificates of authenticity we issue are based on solid, reliable and fully referenced art investigations, authentication research, analytical work and forensic studies.

We are available to examine your Knaus painting or drawing anywhere in the world.

You will generally receive your certificates of authenticity and authentication report within two weeks. Some complicated cases with difficult to research Knaus paintings or drawings take longer.

Our clients include Knaus collectors, investors, tax authorities, insurance adjusters, appraisers, valuers, auctioneers, Federal agencies and many law firms.

We perform Ludwig Knaus art authentication, appraisal, certificates of authenticity (COA), analysis, research, scientific tests, full art authentications. We will help you sell your Ludwig Knaus or we will sell it for you.

Ludwig Knaus was a German genre painter of the younger Düsseldorf school. He was born at Wiesbaden and studied from 1845 to 1852 under Sohn and Schadow in Düsseldorf. His early works, like “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 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.[1] His chief works of this period include “The Golden Wedding,” “The Baptism,” and “The Promenade,” purchased for the Luxembourg. From 1861 to 1866 he practiced at Berlin, producing such works as “Boys Playing Cards,” “Looking for a Bride” (Wiesbaden Museum), and “His Highness on His Travels.” The next eight years of his life saw the production of much of his best work, including “The Children’s Festival” (Nation Gallery, Berlin), “In Great Distress,” and “The Village Prince.” From 1874 to 1883 he was professor at the Academy of Berlin, continuing to reside in that city until his death.

Among the most importand works of his last period were: “The Holy Family” and “The Road to Ruin,” both painted in 1876 and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; “Behind the Curtain” (1880), Dresden Gallery; “The Rag Baby” (1880) and “A Village Festival” (1881), both in the Vanderbilt collection, Metropolitan Museum, New York; and “A Duel.” During his last period Knaus also painted a series of “Idyls,” with nudes in a rather classical style, of which an important example is in the Wiesbaden Museum. The most famous examples of his portraits, which are genre in character, are those of the scientist Helmholtz and the historian Mommsen, both in the National Gallery, Berlin. Among his many distinctions were the great gold medal of the Berlin Exhibition of 1861 and the grand medal of honor at the Paris Exposition of 1867. He was a member of the Berlin, Munich, and many other academies; an Officer of the Legion of Honor and a Knight of the Prussian Order Pour le Mérite.

Still wondering about a German painting in your family collection? Contact us…it could be by Ludwig Knaus.