apprentice to the marble carver Biganzoli. He learned to make domestic objects before moving on to roughing out and shaping stone and other materials. In the 1880s Pellini was deeply immersed in the fervent climate of the Milanese scapigliatura and in the new socialist movement. His first important works, such as the Spazzacamino (the chimneysweep) date from this period.
In 1888 he enrolled for a sculpture course under Ambrogio Borghi at the Brera Accademia di Belle Arti. The Oggioni prize, awarded tri-annually, gave him the opportunity to go on to specialise in Rome.
After travelling widely in Italy, he journeyed to Paris where he came across the works of Medardo Rosso and Auguste Rodin, a discovery which was a great influence. In 1893 he returned to Milan and dedicated himself to monumental sculpture. The Tombe Macario and Cristo nel Getsemani gained him notoriety. Madre won him the prestigious Tandardini prize in 1897. He went on to represent Lombardy sculpture at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, meeting with further success.
After a period of considerable social tension, bloodily repressed in 1898 by General Bava Becaris, Pellini and other militant socialist artists moved away from Milan to return at the beginning of the 1900s. He began to teach at the Castello Sforzesco Scuola Superiore degli Artefici, and remained there until 1929. From 1905 he took part regularly in the Venice Biennale as well as many exhibitions in Italy and abroad.
His artistic output divides into two strongly representative types, one linked to small bronzes and, almost exclusively, the theme of childhood, and the other to monumental sculpture. A serious illness forced him to give up artistic activity and teaching in 1929. He died at his home in Milan in May 1934.