Following the ten years of the Commonwealth the monarchy in Britain was restored with the accession in 1660 of Charles II, who immediately appointed Lely as his court painter. Lely had served Charles I in his final years, adapted with great success to the austerity of the Commonwealth period, and then smoothly moved back into royal favour at the restoration. Lely's portraits of fashionably popeyed beauties exemplify the licentiousness for which Charles II and his court remain notorious. Wright also significant figure and new subject matter appears in compelling animal paintings of Barlow.