Must Artists be Anguished?

When exactly did artists decide that they were dif­fer­ent from ordi­nary mor­tals, that in all like­li­hood they were supe­rior to the rest of us? Or, viewed dif­fer­ently, when were they granted such a priv­i­leged sta­tus? When did West­ern soci­eties start ven­er­at­ing them as sen­si­tive, mis­un­der­stood geniuses?

Very provoca­tive ques­tions! These ques­tions are the open­ing par­graph of this excel­lent arti­cle by Alan Rid­ing, explor­ing the his­tory of the tor­tured artist myth.

Or is it a myth?