Portrait of a Young Man and the Figure in The Painting
The Portrait of a Young Man, preserved in the Uffizi under inventory number 566 E, belongs to the Leonardo da Vinci collection and was listed in the former Euploos record as seguace (?). It is not securely dated. Its attribution remains debated: it has been associated with Sodoma, with an unknown Milanese artist, and later with Boltraffio, an attribution also rejected by some authors.
In this context, the comparison proposed here is limited to one precise element: the central frieze of the garment, which shows a strong ornamental relationship with the green band worn by the Figure in The Painting.
A Comparable Ornamental Motif
The comparison reveals a remarkable proximity between the frieze of the Portrait of a Young Man and that of the Figure in The Painting. In both cases, the decoration is based on a regular sequence of angular motifs set within a narrow band.
The comparison concerns a precise and constructed detail of dress. The scheme confirms the structural relationship between the two friezes, beyond differences in condition and pictorial treatment.
Comparative Reading of the Frieze
The diagrams do not offer a free simplification: they reproduce the observed tracings as closely as possible in the two friezes. They thus show the repetition of a very similar motif, following a comparable structure in both cases.
The button visible on the left side of the band in The Painting partly disrupts the reading. It corresponds, however, to a repainted and modified area, without calling into question the general organisation of the motif.
