Johann Ulrich Kraus

Johann Ulrich Kraus (also Krauss, Krauß, 1655–1719) was an early German illustrator, engraver and publisher in Augsburg.

An engraving by Krauss from Die Verwandlungen des Ovidii (The Metamorphoses of Ovid), c. 1690. The Greek prophet Tiresias strikes two snakes with a stick, and is transformed into a woman by the goddess Hera as a punishment

He was a student of Melchior Küsel (1626- ca.1683), who was in turn a student of Matthäus Merian the Elder. Kraus became a partner in the Augsburg publishing company of Melchior Küsel, whose daughter Johanna Sibylla he married in 1685. 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.