In 1710, Pesne was called to Berlin by King Frederick I of Prussia. The king had seen and liked a painting of a German nobleman Pesne had completed in Venice and wanted Pesne to complete a study of himself. Upon the death of the king in 1713, Pesne worked in the courts of Dresden and Dessau, and later visited London and Paris, where he was made a full member of the Academie Royale in 1720. While there, he painted the a portrait of a well-known collector Pierre-Jean Mariette in 1723. Mariette had extensive international connections with other artists and, importantly, with patrons.