"People portray him as the suffering indigent aesthete"

Do they, though? I don't think he was ever portrayed as skint, just unrecognised in terms of his music. Not really sure of the relevance of his class background - are some people suspicious that poshness is an indicator of inauthenticity? If so, don't worry - inauthenticity is one of the many musical gifts the UK gave to the world, along with the notion that "keeping it real" is wildly overrated... (a paraphrase of Ian McDonald again, this time from the intro to "Revolution in the Head").