In this paper, we propose an analytical low-level representation of images, obtained by a decomposition process, here the matching pursuit (MP) algorithm, as a new way of describing objects through a general continuous description using an affine invariant dictionary of basis functions. This description is used to recognize objects in images. In the learning phase, a template object is decomposed, and the extracted subset of basis functions, called meta-atom, gives the description of our object. We then extend naturally this description into the linear scale-space using the definition of our basis functions, and thus bringing a more general representation of our object. We use this enhanced description as a predefined dictionary of the object to conduct an MP-based shape recognition (MPSR) task into the linear scale-space. The introduction of the scale-space approach improves the robustness of our method, and permits to avoid local minima problems encountered when minimizing a non-convex energy function. We show results for the detection of complex synthetic shapes, as well as natural (aerial and medical) images.