Signor Mario (1810-1883)

Hand-coloured daguerreotype of Signor Mario sitting in a red upholstered chair looking left. He is wearing a dark suit and the background is painted blue with white clouds. The daguerreotype is mounted under glass. Queen Victoria first heard Giovanni Matteo de Candia, known as 'Mario', sing shortly after his London debut in 1839. She heard him perform many times over the following years, both at public concerts and at Buckingham Palace. When he died in December 1883 she described him in her journal as 'the greatest Tenor that ever existed'. A number of photographs of Signor Mario survive in the Royal Collection, from different stages of his career.