He was an officer in the German army, an illustrator and a philhellene who fought as a volunteer during the Greek Revolution and created large-scale portraits of leaders of the Revolution, such as Theodoros Kolokotronis, Georgios Karaiskakis and others. During his stay in Greece, Krazeisen, a self-taught painter and designer, created several landscapes and portraits, most of them in paper and pencil. Notable landscapes include those of Nafplio and the Acropolis, as well as the the arrival of the first Greek steamship, “Karteria”, at the port of Poros, an event to which Krazeisen was an eyewitness. Still, the most important part of his work comprises nineteen portraits of prominent figures of the Revolution, which he created either at the camps where he toured or at the 3rd Greek National Assembly, which he attended. The incomplete portrait of G. Karaiskakis was produced shortly before the latter’s death. Krazeisen’s oeuvre comprises 91 paintings, 21 of which are watercolor landscapes while the remaining 70 are pencil drawings of people, monuments and military formations.
Upon returning to Germany, Krazeisen lithographed his drawings and circulated them, from 1827 to 1831, in seven albums under the general title “Bildnisse ausgezeichneter Griechen und Philhellenen nebst einigen Ansichten und Trachten” (Portraits of Prominent Greeks and Philhellenes, together with some Vistas and Costumes) and the subtitle “Nach der Natur gezeichnet und herausgegeben von Karl Krazeisen” (drawn from nature and published by Karl Krazeisen). Each one of them featured 3-4 portraits and one or two Greek landscapes. These albums became very popular at the time, by way of military reporting, and, despite their plain, relatively simplistic nature, they formed the basis for many portraits of revolutionary figures that surfaced later. A drawing by Krazeisen, who died in 1878 in Munich, formed the basis for the portrait of Kolokotronis that appeared on the five-thousand-drachma bill of 1984. After Krazeisen's death, his lithographs were passed on to his daughter Maria, who, in turn, passed them on to her husband, professor Ion Fetov, who was of Russian descent. Following a suggestion of Nikolaos Gyzis dating from the time both he and Ion Fetov were in Munich, the latter decided, at an advanced age, to entrust Krazeisen's lithographs to the Greek state, instead of passing them on to his heirs. Thus, he hired a Greek by the name of Antypas to appraise them, while also submitting a relevant letter to the Greek Consulate in Galati of Romania. Antypas engaged in a negotiation with then managing director of the Greek National Gallery Zacharias Papantoniou, which culminated in Krazeisen's lithographs being sold to the gallery in 1926, at the price of 200,000 drachmas, along with some personal items of Krazeisen, a photograph and the leather pocket belt of Revolution fighter Plapoutas. Presently, his lithographs are on display in the Eleftherios Venizelos hall of the National Historical Museum in Athens.