No doubt, literature and art have certainly played a role in painting a false image of what this period was like. This is neither unique to this period nor to European art forms. I would also add that modern revisionist art and literature is now painting an equally false image of what this period was like. The only solution, it seems, is that the reader/viewer must not remain a passive subject, but should take an objective, almost cynical approach to what they see in literature and art with respect to the authentic past, whatever that is.  Moreover, the audience is also part of the problem because, like it or not, the painter/writer is giving the audience what they want, a view of the world that conforms to their beliefs, not necessarily with reality.