Marianne Kraus

Maria Kraus was born in Buchen (Odenwald). Her parents were Joseph Bernhard Kraus, a clerk, and Anna Dorothea née Schmidt. Her father's family, originally from Augsburg, had a small restaurant in Weilbach near Amorbach; her mother was a daughter of the master-builder at Miltenberg, Johann Martin Schmidt. They had fourteen children, of whom 7 died in childhood. Joseph Martin Kraus was a brother of Marianne's. The children studied with Rector Georg Pfister, and Marianne took piano lessons from Cantor Bernhard Franz Wendler.[1] She received more formal education in Mannheim and at the drawing and painting school in Mainz. Later, she studied with the landscape painter Ferdinand von Kobell (1740-1799) in Mannheim; in 1781 with Caspar Schneider (1753-1839) in Mainz; and finally, in 1785-86, with Christian Georg Schütz (1718-1791) and Johann Georg Pforr (1745-1798).

Serving as a lady-in-waiting of Duchess Charlotte von Erbach, in 1791, she undertook a six-month trip to Italy,[2] and met in Rome and Naples artists such as Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807), Jacob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807), and Wilhelm Tischbein (1751-1829). Through her diary, Für mich gemerkt auf meiner Reise nach Italien 1791, she contributed to travel literature;[3] it was first published in 1931, and then again in 1996 by Helmut Brosch.

In 1798, Kraus married Georg Lämmerhirt (1763-1813), court council, and son of a teacher and organist. Lämmerhirt received his education in Göttingen in evangelical theology, but made a career as an administrator. Kraus was the younger talented sister of German composer Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-1792). Her grandson, Karl Friedrich Schreiber (1864-1933) was the first German biographer of Joseph Martin Kraus. She died on 24 May 1838 at Erbach im Odenwald.

• Körner, Irmela (2005). Frauenreisen nach Italien. Schriftstellerinnen des 19. Jahrhunderts beschreiben das Land ihrer Sehnsucht (in German). Wien: Promedia. pp. 71–97. ISBN 3-85371-239-8.