Vive la france

Arezzo, Italy While most travellers head to Florence when visiting Tuscany, for antiques it’s worth seeking out the city of Arezzo to the south-east. It’s replete with museums and historical monuments

There’s nothing expected or dull about this Parisian apartment, whose design takes risks by mixing references with studied panache

Canny collectors should swoop in when an artist falls out of fashion–but always pay attention to quality, because even the greatest names, such as Picasso, made the odd pot-boiler

Clutter-free grandeur How the artist changed her untidy ways to create a stately studio workspace

Rufus Bird considers whether the market is up or down

A cut-crystal bed, with associated mirrors and throne, sparkled at auction earlier this month, but no glamour could beat the prize that was the Union Flag flown by HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar