Spring goes to auction

"Spring, the sweet spring, is the year's pleasant king." So wrote the 17th-century English poet Thomas Nashe – but when does the season actually start? On St Brigid's Day, February 1st, according to ancient tradition; officially on March 1st, says Met Éireann; while the 2015 astronomical calendar lists March 20th for the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere.

Whatever the date, the season of joys has rarely been better depicted in art than this stunning, heart-soaring, neo-classical white marble sculpture, The Coming of Spring – a floatinnymph bearing a wreath of flowers – made in the late 19th century by American artist William Couper while working in Florence. The 32in-high sculpture, described as "a virtuoso rendering of the human form", goes to auction at Christie's The Opulent Eye sale in London next Wednesday with a £100,000 top estimate.