The improvement in her painting skills came from her emulation of the masters' works.

emulation 是名词，来自动词 emulate（模仿、效仿）。emulate 源自拉丁语 aemulari，意思是"努力赶上或超越"。emulation 指通过模仿他人来学习或竞争的行为，通常带有积极向上的含义。