Nechita Zugravul

This Romanian icon painter kept a small candle lit in her workshop, believing it warded off bad brushstrokes and bad luck in equal measure. She painted saints with faces that feel more like neighbors than holy figures—round cheeks, slightly tilted gaze, like someone you’d meet at the baker’s in Iași. Grab her *Sf. Gheorghe*—a knight on a white horse, not the usual dramatic slash of armor but a quiet ride through a pale gold field—then swipe to the next icon in your feed and see how many others skip the horse entirely.