BBC Radio 3

To coincide with the National Gallery's major exhibition "Leonardo: Painter at the Court of Milan" which will include some of the best known paintings by the great "Renaissance Man", Charles Nicholl reveals a lesser known, but equally astonishing aspect of his work in Milan: his splendid pageants; operettas, masques and parades which he designed and directed as Master of Ceremonies.

Charles Nicholl, Leonardo's biographer, is fascinated by these transient masterpieces, which are equally important to the development of Leonardo's work and which the artist carefully describes in his own writing. There are also vivid eye witness accounts. Charles re-imagines three of the most brilliant in their original settings, with Leonardo present at the Castello Sforzesco in Milan.