Zorn, Andres (1893). The Toast [etching]. Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden.

This work is an etching that excels at realism considering the medium, but is not photorealistic. There is a single element (line) used to create shapes, value and a sense of space. The scene depicts a rotund, aged man dressed and surrounded by opulence, apparently enjoying his success. The work does not seem to be a cynical commentary on capitalism. Overall the work is naturalistic, but specific. The subject is clearly a wealthy capitalist, a near portrait because the rendering is accomplished respectfully. Illustrative cross-hatching is how the entire work is built. If this work is a commission endorsed by the subject, he wanted to present himself in the passive action of enjoying his success, as opposed to acknowledging the artist and the viewers. 

This work is a case study in cross-hatching. A general-to-specific approach was clearly used to build the depiction, resulting in a wholistic rendering. Value is particularly well-developed, and not only because color is not used. Space is established primarily through diminishing detail. Background figures are rendered with care but are completely non-specific. The portion of the background with no figures is minimally built. Pictorially, the scene is quite static. The subject is large and stable, favors the left side of the PP, but his rightward gaze counters this. He clearly dominates, as does the use of line, it’s direction (mostly various angles of vertical) and a seamless texture built by cross-hatching. 

The value range is fully explored and balanced. Eye movement starts at the figure’s self-satisfied expression and moves in a triangular pattern to the two symbols of wealth he carries, a half-full glass and cigar. Next, the figures in the background re-direct attention to the subject. Elemental choices, a richly developed scene and strong sense of space, while being limited to a single elemental unit (hatch line), organically combine to achieve pictorial unity. The viewer is a bystander, like the background figures, who all but fawn after the subject. The perspective is from an oblique angle and slightly beneath his eye line, hinting that the subject is of a higher social class than everyone involved, including the viewer.