File:Basilicus Melitensis (pseudo-Heraclid), Birgu portrait.png

English: Canvass from Birgu town hall, Malta. An inscription on the original painting identifies it as a portrait of Basilicus Melitensis, another name for Ioan Iacob Heraclid or Despot-Vodă, 1560s Prince of Moldavia; local legend additionally claims that Heraclid was Maltese, or strongly connected to Malta. In his analysis, Romanian historian Andrei Pippidi noted that the identification was spurious, though Heraclid's connection with Malta was attested to some degree. He believes that the work is a depiction of Cosimo II de' Medici, the Tuscan Grand Duke in 1609–1621, and that the misleading inscription was created in the 19th century, to substantiate the legend. See Andrei Pippidi, "Două portrete românești în Malta", in Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medie, Vol. 18, 2000, pp. 177–179. The portrait and inscription, however, are both attested in Gianfrancesco (Giovanni Francesco) Abela and Giovannantonio Ciantar, Malta illustrata, ovvero Descrizione di Malta isola del mare Siciliano e Adriatico, pp. 524–525. Valletta: Stamperia del Palazzo di S.A.S., 1780.