| This week’s stories A Union Jack — complete with cannonball shrapnel — from the Battle of Trafalgar |  | | One of just three British flags known to have survived Nelson’s 1805 naval victory, this Union Jack was flown by HMS Spartiate, then given to the ship’s lieutenant, James Clephan, for his bravery | | |  | Jan Davidsz. de Heem and the invention of the pronkstilleven — a huge, sumptuous still life | | |  | Great Danish artists of the 19th century: from Hammershøi and Holsøe to the Skagen painters | | | |  | First class: a private collection of Louis Vuitton trunks hailing from the golden age of travel | | |  | Why leading British artists are backing New Contemporaries — ‘a platform for risk-taking’ | | | |  | How Storm King Art Center — the biggest sculpture park in the United States — has added to its collection of more than 100 large-scale and site-specific works through a $53m expansion project | | | | MORE STORIES |
Editor’s picks | | | Several of the tropes we associate with Marc Chagall appear in Le peintre et la tête d’animal rouge, painted in the period between 1959 and 1968. Alongside a portrait of the artist with his brushes and palette are a red donkey’s head and a picture of a bride with a rooster (thought to represent fertility) and a menorah, the type of candelabra found in synagogues — a potent emblem of his Jewish heritage Price on request Private Sales | | | | | | This handwritten letter from John Lennon to Cynthia Powell dates from April 1962, a few months before the pair would marry. It was composed over five days, during the Beatles’ first residency at the Star-Club in Hamburg. Lennon writes about lying in a bunk while Paul McCartney snores in the one above, and refers to the recent death of Stuart Sutcliffe, who had left the band for a career in art Estimate: £30,000-40,000 9 July, London | | | | | | Portrait of Margret Halseber of Basel, by the 16th-century Flemish painter Willem Key, is also known as ‘The Lady with the Two Beards’. Key was one of the most accomplished portrait artists of his day, and his acute powers of observation and skilful handling of paint are evident here. The sitter must have had hirsutism, a rare hormonal imbalance that can cause women to grow coarse facial hair Estimate: £300,000-500,000 1 July, London | | | | | | The Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga raises questions of desire and global exploitation in her 2014 tapestry In Pursuit of Bling: The Discovery. Dominating the image is a huge gemstone, behind which we see a contour map dotted with the chemical symbols for zinc, magnesium, aluminium, silicon and other elements found in the earth — and often extracted at great cost to the environment Estimate: £20,000-30,000 26 June, London | | | | | | |
Spotlight on |  | | • | Daguerreotypes, as Christie’s offers 265 works from the Maillet Daguerreotype Collection — one of the most significant auctions of its kind in 25 years | | • | Greek and Roman sculpture: with the Antiquities sale coming to London on 2 July, we offer expert advice on the questions a prospective buyer should ask | | • | René Boivin: a collecting guide to the French jewellery house, with examples of its spectacular pieces offered online in Joaillerie Paris until 27 June | |  | | Anytime, Anywhere DISCOVER PRIVATE SALES ON YOUR SCHEDULE |  | | NEW YORK EVENT 16 & 17 JULY 2025 | | |
