What great paintings say

The piece I’d never part with

Hokusai imagined a massive breaker about to crash on tiny fishing boats. Sandro Botticelli had his Venus float in her shell on a mere sea ripple. Large or small, soothing or frightening, waves have long captivated artists, finds Michael Prodger

From Raphael and the mysterious Fornarina to Jan Steen with his flirtatious Margriet and Suzanne Valadon, who broke many hearts until she lost hers to a much younger man, Nick Trend explores five romances that made art history

TALK about being overshadowed. Sculptor Andrea della Robbia, ...

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

Brown Jack not only won six consecutive times in Ascot’s Queen Alexandra Stakes, but was also the model for one of only two finished sculptures by Sir Alfred Munnings. A cast of it made top price at auction–as did a Canaletto at another sale