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. 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).