Career
He was a student of Melchior Küsel (1626- ca1683), who was in turn a student of Matthäus Merian the Elder. Kraus became one of the most successful and respected illustraters of his generation in Augsburg. His business was damaged in the War of the Spanish Succession, but Kraus seems to have recovered and in 1717 is recorded in the archives of Augsburg as a wealthy citizen.