In 1853, he received an appointment at Bonn, but within a few years, returned to Rome as second secretary of the DAI, serving under Wilhelm Henzen (1816-1887). In 1865 he was chosen inaugural professor for archaeology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Among his pupils were Gustav Körte, Adolf Furtwängler, Heinrich Wölfflin, Julius Langbehn, Paul Arndt, Walther Amelung, Arthur Milchhöfer, Panagiotis Kavvadias and Heinrich Bulle.
