MULTI-GIFTED craftsman and musician Joe Skeaping has reproduced what he believes to be the only example of a 15th-century violin-type instrument.

Mr Skeaping, of Silverless Street, Marlborough, took five years to make the instrument which is always depicted in paintings being played by angels.

Mr Skeaping was aware that no early models of an instrument known as a lira da braccio survived anywhere in the world although they had been made by their thousands in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The former wood carving lecturer, who is also a violinist, was aware that the early lira da braccios were

depicted in paintings by Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci in the National Gallery.

From the paintings, Mr Skeaping reconstructed what is believed to be the only example in the world of this ancient instrument.

Using a process of trial and error, aided by photographs of the da Vinci and Raphael paintings, he has made what he believes is a faithful copy of an early lira da braccio.

Last Wednesday Mr Skeaping premiered its music at a concert in the Merchant's House in Marlborough.

He was accompanied by Sharon Lindo from Woodborough playing a rebec, another violin-type instrument dating from the Middle Ages. Ms Lindo plays regularly in concerts at the Globe Theatre in London.

Mr Skeaping's interest in mediaeval music, gained from his late father, is shared by his three brothers.