Claus Meyer was born in Linden near Hanover in 1856. He first learned with August Kreling in Nuremberg and studied with Alexander Wagner and Ludwig von Löfftz at the Munich Academy later.

In 1890 Meyer was appointed to the School of Art in Karlsruhe, then in 1895 he got a professorship at the Academy in Düsseldorf, where he quickly gained popularity. Claus Meyer's works are characterized by the Munich school in technique and motif. Meyer died in 1919.