Carlo Pellegrini. Carlo Pellegrini, who did much of his work under the pseudonym of Ape, was an artist who served from 1869 to 1889 as a caricaturist for Vanity Fair magazine, a leading journal of London society.
He was born in Capua, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His father came from an ancient land-owning family, while his mother was allegedly descended from the Medici.
His work for the magazine made his reputation and he became its most influential artist. Pellegrini was educated at the Collegio dei Barnabiti, and then at Sant'Antonio in Maddaloni, near Naples.
As a young man he caricatured Neapolitan society, modelling his portraits on those of Melchiorre Delfico and Daumier and other French and British artists of the period. Pellegrini claimed to have fought with Garibaldi; however, those who knew him well dismissed this as fantasy.
Deciding to leave Italy in 1864 after a series of personal crises, including the death of his sister, he travelled to England via Switzerland and France. He arrived in London in November 1864; he later claimed to have arrived destitute, and to have slept on the streets and in doorways. However, this claim may have been another fantasy designed to make him seem to be a Bohemian artist. In London he became a friend of the Prince of Wales. It is not recorded how Pellegrini met Thomas Bowles, the owner of Vanity Fair magazine, but he quickly found himself
He was born in Capua, then in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. His father came from an ancient land-owning family, while his mother was allegedly descended from the Medici.
His work for the magazine made his reputation and he became its most influential artist. Pellegrini was educated at the Collegio dei Barnabiti, and then at Sant'Antonio in Maddaloni, near Naples.
As a young man he caricatured Neapolitan society, modelling his portraits on those of Melchiorre Delfico and Daumier and other French and British artists of the period. Pellegrini claimed to have fought with Garibaldi; however, those who knew him well dismissed this as fantasy.
Deciding to leave Italy in 1864 after a series of personal crises, including the death of his sister, he travelled to England via Switzerland and France. He arrived in London in November 1864; he later claimed to have arrived destitute, and to have slept on the streets and in doorways. However, this claim may have been another fantasy designed to make him seem to be a Bohemian artist. In London he became a friend of the Prince of Wales. It is not recorded how Pellegrini met Thomas Bowles, the owner of Vanity Fair magazine, but he quickly found himself
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