Mstyora miniature lacquer painting differs from analogous crafts of Palekh, Fedoskino and Kholuy because its masters understood miniature composition in their own way. The background which the miniature composition is mostly created on is mostly a landscape.

The background is mostly colorful. The elements of the composition are people, animals, birds. The small box “Soldier’s Wives” of the contemporary master, the people’s artist of RF Nekosov V.F. is a remarkable example of such composition of painting.

The skyline is usually located at the person eye level. But in the miniature “Soldier’s Wives” the artist depicted a high skyline as if he stood on the hill and so he could see more land than the sky. He divided the landscape into some definite grounds. There is a time length in every ground. Therefore, the painter depicted the whole course of ploughing, sowing a field and crop harvesting. This method of space planning was adopted by the author from icon painters and was often used by masters of miniature lacquer painting.

The small box “Soldier’s Wives” is a part of the triptych devoted to the 60^thanniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War. As envisioned by the author the small box is to be completed with two round small boxes which are in collection of Mstyora Art Museum nowadays. Their names are “1941” and “May, 1945”.

All the three laconic compositions are tied together. In the first small box picture devoted to 1941 year the author shows people he loved: his father going to the war and his mother who would wait for him to return.

The second small box composition displays the Victory Day with the help of conventional image: a young woman with her son. The color of her garment and a crane depicted nearby indicate that her spouse has not returned from the war. The colors of nature convey high spirits, blossomed apple-trees and cherries are symbols of peaceful life that has come.

In combination with the small box “Soldier’s Wives” Nekosov created a succinct image of the Russian woman — the image of a hard-working woman with the remarkable resilience and will power.