A native of Venice, Pellegrini was invited to England in 1708 by the British ambassador to Venice, Charles Montagu, later 1st Duke of Manchester

In 1713 he finished the decoration of the chapel and the stair-well of the Duke of Manchester’s country house, Kimbolton Castle, for which he provided the Triumph of a Roman Emperor on the walls and Minerva, which includes a portrait of the patron upheld by putti on the ceiling (both in situ). Again, the light and radiant colours are indebted to Veronese; the scene of musicians playing a fanfare, painted in a triangular area, is brilliantly accomplished, both as an independent work and as part of the whole. Pellegrini’s third large-scale cycle from this period, probably done c. 1709–10, consists of a series of mythological canvases originally intended for Burlington House, London, and now in Narford Hall, Norfolk. Pellegrini enjoyed considerable success in England. He was popular with the aristocracy and was appointed one of the directors of Kneller’s Academy in 1711.

In 1708, Charles Montagu (later 1st Duke of Manchester), the British ambassador extraordinary at Venice, invited Pellegrini and Marco Ricci to England. Pellegrini stayed until 1713. The visit was of decisive importance for him because he established himself as one of the most sought-after decorative painters in Europe during these years. His first work in England was probably the decoration (destr.) of the stair-well in the Duke of Manchester’s house in Arlington Street, London. In 1709, with Ricci, Pellegrini