From my limited understanding of art interpretation, in earlier times art was seen somewhat as an attempt to understand or mimic the world around them in order to understand it better. Now we tend to value creativity as a more important quality, but in doing so we sacrifice a degree of sincerity or even nobility that curiosity and mimicry have. All of these heroes share a creative quality, but in a more classical sense. They are true to themselves and their art, but they probably intuited that their art is as much or more about discovery than anything else. Maybe that's the key to making the leap from artistic commoner to greatness...
I've totally been looking for a good intro to art history recently (my friend's textbook just doesn't look that appealing...), so thanks for the recommendation! Anyone recommend a good starting point for diving into Wodehouse too? :)