The main problem for most people is a lack of flexibility and imagination. Things can be done differently from what we once learned about them. In that sense, most people are conservatives.
Most genial people needed assistance in everyday life. Is this so ’cause they despised us, or they simply didn’t see us? Or because they didn’t know any better?
In order not to offend them, a good portraitist is painting people the way they perceive themselves, not as they are in reality. Thus portraits of famous people aren’t valid historical documents.