In The Apocalypse, The Large Woodcut Passion, The Small Woodcut Passion, and The Life of the Virgin, Durer presented long series of works drawing upon the Bible's stories of Christ's passion, the Apocalypse, and, mixing the Gospel According to St. Luke with legends of the Virgin, the Life of the Virgin. After all of these assumed their final form in 1511, Durer was drawn into the service of the Hapsburg Emperor Maximilian I, who commissioned Durer (along with a number of other important German artists) to produce a large Triumphal Arch out of many joined woodcuts. When he began experimenting with etchings, however, Durer returned to the Passion for the subjects of two of his six etchings. Along with a number of engravings of The Virgin and Child, Durer was also drawn in the wars of the Reformation via a book on the Controversy of the Chalice dedicated to him by Andreas Karlstadt, one of Luther's more vehement supporters. Durer's woodcut Last Supper of 1623 displays the chalice quite prominently on the table; the bread plate, empty, is relegated to the floor in front of the table.

Walter L. Strauss in his catalogue raisonnés, Albrecht Durer Woodcuts and Woodblocks (Abaris Books, 1980) and The Intaglio Prints of Albrecht Dürer: Engravings, Etchings, and Drypoints (NY: Abaris, 1981) provides a summary of comments upon each individual work. Strauss's Commentary volume in the Illustrated Bartsch series updates his commentary here. As always, Panofsky's Life and Art of Albrecht Durer (Princeton University Press, 1945, revised editions culminating in the 1971 edition) is crucial for an understanding of the work of this great artist and printmaker.