Carlo Pellegrini, who did much of his work under the pseudonym of Ape, was an Italian artist who served from 1869 to 1889 as a caricaturist for Vanity Fair magazine, a leading journal of London society. His work for the magazine made his reputation and he became its most influential artist.

Vanity Fair was a British weekly magazine that was published from 1868 to 1914. Founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles in London, the magazine included articles on fashion, theatre, current events as well as word games and serial fiction. The cream of the period's "society magazines", it is best known for its witty prose and caricatures of famous people of Victorian and Edwardian society, including artists, athletes, royalty, statesmen, scientists, authors, actors, business people and scholars.