Droste effect

Uncommon card · No. 97208

The Droste effect (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdrɔstə]) is the effect of a picture recursively appearing within itself, in a place where a similar picture would realistically be expected to appear. In art history, the technique is known as mise en abyme. This produces a loop which in theory could go on forever, but in practice only continues as far as the image's resolution allows. The effect is named after Droste, a Dutch brand of cocoa, with an image designed by Jan Misset in 1904. The Droste effect has since been used in the packaging of a variety of products. Apart from advertising, a variant of the effect is seen in the Dutch artist M. C. Escher's 1956 lithograph Print Gallery, which portrays a gallery that depicts itself. The effect has been widely used on the covers of comic books, mainly in the 1940s.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Alf van Beem, CC0