Phillipps, Evelyn March: The frescoes in the Sixtine chapel (London: John Murray, 1901)

PORTRAITS

67

Cardinal Bessarione1 in the preceding
century. Orsini answers that he knows
of no existing portrait, but that he recollects
Cardinal St. Angelo telling him that in one
of the frescoes of the Sixtine Chapel was a
portrait of Bessarione with four of his
followers, among whom was Gaza. This
is believed to be the group on the right of
Moses. As Bessarione died in 1475, his
portrait at least must have been painted
from recollection, or from some previous
one, but we gather how strong the wish
was to introduce memorable personages of
the time.
Fresco XII.—Hie Last Supper.—
Cosimo Rosselli.
As Moses assembles the twelve tribes,
so here Christ calls together His twelve
1 Bessarione of Trebizonde was the celebrated protector of
learned Greeks who emigrated into Italy. He seceded from
the Greek to the Latin Church, but his palace remained the
rendezvous of all his fugitive countrymen. His friend Gaza
was reckoned the first scholar of the time. His sumptuous
illustrated edition of Aristotle is preserved in the Vatican
library.