Honesty of Impression

"...a tenderness that, thanks to his refusal to beautify, never slips into sentimentality."

From Himadri at Argumentative Old Git:

[…T]hroughout his career [Rembrandt] had painted people not good-looking by any conventional standards, and in none of these paintings is there even the slightest hint of mockery. He frequently painted old people, but without any attempt either to idealise or to caricature. Indeed, his paintings of old people – old men, old women – display quite often a profound sense of sympathy, and, indeed, a sense of tenderness, a tenderness that, thanks to his refusal to beautify, never slips into sentimentality. He finds in these people what I can only describe as a sort of inner beauty – an inner beauty that is often at odds with their all-too-apparent failing human flesh.

To see people as they are, “without any attempt either to idealise or to caricature”, is incredibly hard. It’s a form of honesty, almost—honesty not of expression, as it is usually intended, but of impression. It might also be a prerequisite skill to unlock many a wonders—like creativity, mental health, and getting laid.