Work of art showing priest in dog collar (7)
I believe the answer is:
fidelio
'work of art' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'priest in dog collar' is the wordplay.
'priest' becomes 'eli' (I've seen this before).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'dog collar' becomes 'fido' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'eli' placed inside 'fido' is 'FIDELIO'.
'showing' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fidelio that I've seen before include "Beethoven opera; I.e. if old (anag.)" , "Beethoven's only opera" , "Noted work" , "18 OPERA]" , "Noted performance" .)