This is a beautiful and unique deck. The images were painted the size they appear in the deck- some brushes used had only a single hair! The art was started by Yury Shakov - he finished number of the cards, along with sketches for the rest but sadly he passed away, and the rest were finished by a Russian artist who remains anonymous. The cards all have a black background which gives a different feel to the deck than any others I have seen and have an oval filigree border reminding one of faberge eggs. This might not be the deck for you if you are partial to pastels, but many will find the deck enchanting. Each minor is illustrated and the symbolism is similar to the Rider Waite so it is easy to read with. You might want to consider buying the book to accompany this deck, written by Cynthia Giles. It teaches you a lot about this particular deck, its figures and symbols, and also about Russia.