PELLEGRINI CELONI Anna Maria Grammatica o siano regole per ben cantare. Dedicata ad Antonio Canova. Edizione seconda.

Fétis, VI, 478; John Goldsmith Phillips, “Canova’s Reclining Naiad”, in the Metropolitan Museum of art bulletin, 1970, vol. XXIX. 

A splendid copy of the second edition, Antonio Canova’s copy, inscribed by the Sculptor to his patron’s wife, Lady Darnley.

Magnificent copy bound with the cipher of Antonio Canova, who later gave it to the wife of one of his most prestigious patrons, Lord Darnley. 

This method “for singing well” was written by the singer Anna Maria Pellegrini Celoni, a singing teacher in Rome, and a friend to Canova. The only Italian singing method published from 1777 to 1820 was written by a woman: Anna Maria Pellegrini Celoni. 

She of the axiom “He who knows how to breath knows how to sing”. 

Bound with his cipher, this copy bears an autograph ex-dono signed by Antonio Canova, the dedicatee of the work, on the white sheet bound before the title: “To Milady Darnley, Canova”. This consignment is confirmed by the recipient, who noted on the title: “E. Darnley, given to me in Rome by Canova! May 1818”.

“Anything from Canova’s hand would be acceptable.” (Lord Darnley) John Bligh, 4th Earl of Darnley (1767-1831), was a famous patron of Antonio Canova (1757-1822): in June 1819 he commissioned a magnificent Sleeping Naiad (now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). 

The original plaster model for the Naiad, completed in 1817, is in the Gipsoteca di Possagno. Compositional prototypes include Canova’s Pauline Borghese as Venus Victrix and an ancient Hermaphrodite, both in the Borghese Gallery, Rome. After observing that the marble he was using contained impurities, Canova interrupted his masterpiece, which was completed by assistants and delivered to the Earl at Cobham Hall in Kent in 1824.

A superlative copy.