http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DrosteImage

Various people, upon seeing a droste image "I can see FOREVER!"

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An image that contains a smaller replica of itself, which (being a replica of the image) contains a smaller replica of itself, which contains ... well, you get the idea. Like a fractal, but without all the complicated math. The more formal name for this is "infinite regression".

For instance, take this cover of Spoof which shows the characters holding a copy of that very comic, whose cover depicts them holding ... a copy of the very same comic (with the same cover). Theoretically, there could be infinite recursion of that comic book in the image, though it's safe to assume that the printer doesn't have enough resolution to reproduce them all. (It's the thought that counts!)note Actually, the Barnabas Collins parody is holding his hand in front of where the third repetition of the cover would be, but that's just nitpicking.

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A similar effect can be set up in a Hall of Mirrors by standing between two mirrors facing each other only for real. Of course you have to turn slightly to see it so even then the effect has limits.

See also Nested Stories and Dream Within a Dream, which has the layering but not the self-similarity. Also see Recursive Reality which is this trope on a cosmic level.

Examples:

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Advertising

The Trope Namer is Droste cocoa powder, made by a Dutch food company that was famous for using this trope in their ads. See the Wikipedia article.

Seen on several cereal packages. You know, the type that feature a picture of somebody having breakfast. Said breakfast of course centers on the cereal, with a package proudly displayed. On that package, we see somebody having said cereals for breakfast. And so on...

Royal Baking Powder. ◊

Land O'Lakes Butter. ◊

Nippon Paint used to have this ◊ on cans of Pylox spray paint, ◊ where what appears to be a hand belonging to a woman is holding a can of Pylox, whose can shows the same thing over and over. Newer cans did away with this, although a vector drawing of a hand holding the paint can be seen.

on cans of Pylox spray paint, where what appears to be a hand belonging to a woman is holding a can of Pylox, whose can shows the same thing over and over. Newer cans did away with this, although a vector drawing of a hand holding the paint can be seen. This cover ◊ of the German magazine "Amiga Joker".

of the German magazine "Amiga Joker". La Vache qui rit. French cartoonist Gotlib parodied this for his series of exhibitionism gags: the cow opens her cloak to show a cow which opens her cloak etc.

French cartoonist Gotlib parodied this for his series of exhibitionism gags: the cow opens her cloak to show a cow which opens her cloak etc. Science mag "Nature" (issue #7476) illustrates an article about science replication with a Droste image.

Mackó sajt, a Hungarian cheese brand.

a Hungarian cheese brand. Almost all covers of the chess series by GM Csaba Balogh. Example

Anime & Manga

Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer had a scene where Ataru is in a room in the school building, looks through the doorway, and sees on the other side of the door the same room that he's in, complete with himself and the doorway, and past that doorway is the same room again, etc. (It seems that space itself is forming loops; earlier there was a scene where we see Mendo run up the stairs past the "camera", only to reappear coming up the same stair and go past the camera again.)

The final shot ◊ of Owarimonogatari's first opening.

of Owarimonogatari's first opening. Thoth from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders is a comic book which depicts events in the near future that are guaranteed to happen, but heavily subject to Prophecy Twists. The zenith of this occurs when it shows what appears to be bullets going through Jotaro's head, but turns out to be bullets going through a picture of Jotaro's head—the same picture its user just saw. Turns out any of Thoth's prophecies might be depicting its own pages in the future.

The inside front cover for volume 3 of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War has a scene where the inside covers of the previous two volumes are depicted as two schoolgirls (the pages are wearing Sailor Fuku). Naturally, the inside back cover is the inside back cover as another girl. ''Volume 3 Inside Back Cover Sempai!"

In Cells at Work! episode 5, Red Blood Cell lets out one of her typical scream upon seeing a cedar pollen. There is a zoom on her eye, where the pollen is reflected, zooming further on its eye, where Red Blood Cell is reflected, with again another zoom on her eye, etc., etc.

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Arts

M. C. Escher's "Print Gallery" ◊ is a very unusual take on this concept: It only shows one copy of the picture, but implies an infinite recursion all the same, using uneven magnification to make the contents of the picture merge with their real-world analogues. The Dutch mathematicians Bart de Smit and Hendrik Lenstra calculated that the blank area at the center would contain a copy of the original picture (scaled down by a factor of 22.5 and rotated by 158 degrees), and created a version where the blank area is filled (as well as many variants thereof with different curvatures).

is a very unusual take on this concept: It only shows one copy of the picture, but implies an infinite recursion all the same, using uneven magnification to make the contents of the picture merge with their real-world analogues. Cassandra Calin's drawing of her stealing her drawing. Though sharp-eyed viewers will note that the second iteration of the image is incorrect — the burglar is not holding the drawing consistently with the others.

Comic Books

Comic Strips

Garfield: The title panel of this Sunday comic from 1992 shows a picture of Garfield reading the comics...with a picture of himself reading the comics, etc.

from 1992 shows a picture of Garfield reading the comics...with a picture of himself reading the comics, etc. Subverted with this ◊ New Yorker cartoon by Charles Addams.

Fan Works

Films — Animation

In Incredibles 2, Elastigirl sees a screencap from her bodycam of her battle with the Screenslaver in his lair and notices that one of his monitors has the exact same image from the feed, which brings her one step closer to finding out the Screenslaver's true identity.

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Live-Action TV

Music

The last scene of The Smashing Pumpkins' "Ava Adore" video.

The New Pornographers use TV monitors to create this effect in their video for "Letter From An Occupant."

for "Letter From An Occupant." The cover of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma uses a variation: a photo of the band with a smaller photo on the wall containing a smaller photo containing a smaller photo. However, each successive photo shows the various band members occupying each other's places.

The album cover for Best of Friends - The Smurfs.

Used on the cover for Big Country's 2001 covers album Undercover

The album cover for Amber Gambler by Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

The album cover for Swing to the Right by Utopia.

The video for The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army.

The video feedback method referenced below is one of the special effects used in the music video for Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

The music video for "I'm Gonna Always Love You" (Baby Piggy's song from The Muppets Take Manhattan) has a number of moments where a scene revealed to be on a TV the Muppet Babies are watching. Inevitably, this leads to a moment when the scene of them watching TV does this, and they turn to the camera trying to figure out what's going on.

for "I'm Gonna Always Love You" (Baby Piggy's song from The Muppets Take Manhattan) has a number of moments where a scene revealed to be on a TV the Muppet Babies are watching. Inevitably, this leads to a moment when the scene of them watching TV does this, and they turn to the camera trying to figure out what's going on. The original cover art for Brian Eno's and David Byrne's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts was created by pasting small cutouts of humanoid figures onto a TV screen, displaying a live feed from a video camera on said screen, then pointing the camera at that same screen. The recursion got distorted enough that the resulting picture isn't immediately obvious as a droste image.

Electronic indie rock band from Portland, called Starfucker (also stylized as STRFKR for obvious reasons), released a mash-up mixtape titled STARFUCKER: MIXTAPE #1, whose cover reflects a Gucci Mane image on an infinite loop.

Pinballs

The scene in the backglass of Capcom's Breakshot pinball machine has a Breakshot pinball machine in the background.

Pinball Magic has a Pinball Magic machine shown in the backglass, complete with another pinball machine on its backglass.

Print Media

Pro Wrestling

Dean Ambrose finds a wired, fully turned-on flat-screen monitor under the ring at Tables, Ladders, and Chairs 2014. Before he uses it as a weapon, he stares at it, grinning like a maniac, while a cameraman looks over his shoulder at Dean and the monitor, intentionally invoking this kind of image. But then the scene cuts to the array of giant ladders towards the stage, giving him an insidious idea. He'd use that monitor later, but it was gimmicked to explode when the cord was pulled on too hard, eventually costing him the match .

Sports

Every year, ESPN The Magazine has an issue called "Revenge of the Jocks" where a famous athlete takes over as editor for that issue. The front cover features the athlete in question tearing up last year's magazine, which features last year's cover athlete tearing up the previous year's magazine, etc. etc.

Tabletop Games

The card Super Secret Tech from Magic: The Gathering's parody expansion set Unhinged depicts itself in its illustration.

Video Games

Web Animation

Web animator Cyriak employs this trope with a number of his animations, especially his earlier .gifs, alongside Body Horror, Soundtrack Dissonance, and plenty of other things.

Webcomics

Web Original

Web Videos

Western Animation

Real Life