The French School of painting refers to the collective evolution of artistic practice in France from the sixteenth century to the modern period, distinguished by a continuous engagement with formal rigour, intellectual inquiry, and aesthetic innovation. It does not constitute a single, unified movement but rather a succession of stylistic developments shaped by court patronage, academic institutions, and independent ateliers. Emerging initially under Italian Renaissance influence, the French School established a distinct identity during the seventeenth century through figures such as Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, whose works embodied ideals of classical order, moral seriousness, and structured composition. The foundation of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1648 further formalised artistic training, codifying a hierarchy of genres and encouraging technical excellence rooted in antique and Renaissance models. Throughout the eighteenth century, the School demonstrated remarkable adaptability, shifting from the grandeur of Baroque classicism towards the decorative elegance of the Rococo, as exemplified by artists such as François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. However, this period also witnessed the emergence of a more critical aesthetic, culminating in the Neoclassical works of Jacques-Louis David, whose paintings sought a return to the ethical clarity and civic virtue of antiquity. The nineteenth century proved a watershed moment, as artists increasingly challenged academic orthodoxies. Romanticism, led by Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix, prioritised emotion, individuality, and colouristic freedom. Realism, championed by Gustave Courbet and Jean-François Millet, rejected idealisation in favour of direct observation of contemporary life. By the late nineteenth century, the radical experiments of the Impressionists — notably Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir — further fractured traditional models of representation, leading ultimately to the diversity of modern French painting. The French School’s historical trajectory is thus characterised by a dynamic tension between tradition and innovation. Its enduring legacy lies in its capacity to synthesise technical mastery with evolving conceptions of beauty, truth, and artistic purpose, securing France’s central role in the history of European and global art.