Ludwig Knaus

George C. Thomas, Philadelphia (by circa 1900)
George C. Thomas, Jr., Los Angeles (by descent from the above, his father)
Josephine Thomas Gardner, Palm Springs (by descent from the above, her father)

Knaus referred to such small portraits of anonymous children as “little heads” (“Köpfchen”).  From the late 1860s, the artist produced many such charming works in high demand by his art dealer Ravené in Berlin and Samuel P. Avery in New York.  In such compositions Knaus employed the clair-obscure technique of Dutch masters, completing the faces and hair in a series of thin color layers, reserving expressive brushstrokes to paint the costumes.