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

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