Here is a lists of artists I highly recommend studying and copying. Visit museums and be in awe over the work of these masters.
I also recommend obtaining prints of paintings by these artists, or finding high-res images online and doing copies of their works. You can copy the entire painting or a section of it. You’ll be amazed by what you learn.
You may be able to find information on each artist’s technique, which will help you achieve the effect that artist did in their paintings. You’ll learn much about values, brushwork, color, and even perhaps about anatomyand/or form. Have fun!
Cecilia Beaux Giovanni Boldini William Merit Chase Frederic Edwin Church Leonardo daVinci Edgar Degas Cedric Egeli Nicolai Fechin Winslow Homer David Leffel Antonio Mancini Édouard Manet Claude Monet Sir William Orpen Rembrandt van Rijn Norman Rockwell Peter Paul Rubens John Singer Sargent Richard Schmid Joaquin Sorolla Vincent van Gogh Diego Velázquez Anders Zorn