Matryoshka. Icon

The matryoshka is placed within the icon scheme: ground, halo, frontal pose. The gold is laid in leaf, the face rendered with a fine brush.

The souvenir is stripped away; what stays is the shape, the face and the pattern, laid down like an icon on gold, red or dark ground. A doll that holds another doll becomes an image that holds another image.

Figure on a gold ground, halo behind the head, dark robes.