 However, to his disappointment, he did not receive the coveted office of "King's Painter", which was held in the 1660s by Sir Peter Lely alone.In contrast to Wright's sympathetic realism, and carefully observed landscape backgrounds, Lely had a more glamorous style, favoured by the court, and based on Van Dyck's pre-Civil War style.This prompted the diarist Samuel Pepys to remark, after an enjoyable visit to Lely's studio, "thence to Wright's the painters