Nikolai Shurygin was born in 1957 in Kimry, Russia. In 1979 he graduated from Moscow School of applied arts (design). During 10 years the painter has been studying multilayered painting which secrets were lost in the beginning of XIX. This unique technique was used by flemish painters as well as russian painters such Kiprensky, Levitsky, Borovikovsky and many others. The uniqueness of the technique consists in the point that every layer of paint is visible through the layer above. Using this technique the artists achieved the incredible realism of depicted subject whether a human face or any texture – silver, gold, brocade, fur, glass, etc.