Carlo Pellegini was born in Italy in 1838. He came to London in 1865 and was engaged by Vanity Fair.

Pellegini's caricature of Benjamin Disraeli was the first lithograph to appear in the magazine. It was so popular that it helped to establish the idea of the coloured caricature in British magazines.

Signing his work Ape, Pellegini continued to the journal for the rest of his life. Other artists on the magazine influenced by Pellegini included James Tissot, Leslie Ward (Spy) and Jean de Paleologu (Pal).

Carlo Pellegini died in 1889.