19th Century French School Portrait of a Lady, Oil on Canvas. 

Overall: 23 1/2 X 19 1/2 in. 

Sight: 16 1/2 X 12 1/2 in. 

Depth: 3 in. 

#3811 . 

The terms style, school, and movement are frequently used in art history, analysis, and criticism, often affixed to a location or group of people. “Style” is a fairly all-encompassing term which can refer to several aspects of art, including the technique(s) used, the basic philosophy behind the artwork, the form of expression employed by the artist, the characteristic appearance of a work, and much more. “School” usually refers to a group of artists who follow the same style, share the same teachers, or have the same aims. They are typically linked to a single location, such as the Venetian School of the 16th Century, the British School that evolved from the Dutch Old Masters in the 18th Century, and the French school of the 19th Century that branched into a cornucopia of new movements by the dawn of the 20th, mainly originating in Paris. Schools of art from the Middle Ages until the 18th Century are typically named for the region or city around which they are based. The apprentice system, through which new artists learned the trade, ensured that styles of art were continued, and often unsigned works that are indistinguishable from the masters who taught those artists are considered just as valuable for their quality, clarity, and adherence to form. Finally, a “Movement” is often used to define a specific group of artists who share a common style, theme, or ideology towards their art, and the term has mostly evolved with the more modern shifts in art since the middle of the 19th Century. Unlike a school, these artists need not be in the same location, or even in communication with each other. Pop Art, for example, is a movement which includes the work of David Hockney and Richard Hamilton in the United Kingdom, but also Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, and Jim Dine in the United States.