The effect is named after a Dutch brand of cocoa, with a logo created by Jan Misset in 1904. It has since been employed in the packaging of a variety of commodities. The effect was anticipated in medieval works of art such as Giotto's Stefaneschi Triptych of 1320.
The appearance is recursive: the miniature version contains an even tinier version of the image, and so on. Only in theory could this go on endlessly; however practically, it continues as long as the resolution of the picture supports, which is comparatively short since each repetition geometrically decreases the picture's size.
