Through works such as "Apocalypse" and the "Triumphal Arch for Emperor Maximilian I", he created dense, meticulous compositions that were much larger, much more finely cut, and far more complex than any earlier woodcut efforts. With an ambitious tonal and dynamic range, he introduced a new level of conceptual, emotional, and spiritual intensity. His two major woodcut series on Christ’s Passion, named "The Large Passion" and "The Small Passion" after their size, are particularly remarkable for their vivid human treatment of the Christian narrative. In his copper engraving, "Melancholia I", meanwhile, Durer created startling vision of emotional ennui, often cited as a defining early image of a depressive or melancholic state.
