Today, about a hundred years after they were taken, one is struck by these photographs` high standard of artistic quality and accuracy of detail. Dorpfeld nearly always featured human figures in them, to give a better impression of dimensions and proportions.

They are therefore, whether consciously or accidentally, contributions to the technique of illustration, which became a tradition of popularity, utilizing the theme of vestiges of antiquity in art, since all the photographs reflect the romantic concept of communion between mankind and nature, on a background with the grandeur of ancient ruins, mute testimony to our civilization brought to light by the archaeologist`s pickaxe.

Wolfger Pohlmann - Head of Arts Goethe Institut Athen