Just in time for the release of the film The Da Vinci Code, the Portland Museum of Art is displaying its rarely seen “Mona Lisa” painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. This enigmatic work, officially titled “La Gioconda,” is thought to be either a preparatory study for the “Mona Lisa” by Da Vinci himself or a copy painted by one of his followers shortly after the creation of the original, which now resides in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The painting is currently on view through the summer months.

The painting was given to the Portland Museum of Art in 1983 by Henry H. Reichhold, a summer resident of Prouts Neck, Maine, who purchased the work in the 1960s after the death of its European owner. Subsequently, “La Gioconda” was analyzed at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard University. Conservators determined that the painting was executed before 1510 – the original Mona Lisa was created between 1503 and 1507- but they were unable to confirm or refute Da Vinci’s hand in its creation. However, similarities are remarkable, and the work contains the characteristics of a left-handed brushstroke, consistent with Da Vinci’s work as a left-handed artist.

Unlike a forgery or counterfeit work, the museum’s “Mona Lisa,” on the basis of technical analyses, differs from the original in size, composition of background landscape and, most notably, the absence of the enigmatic smile – details that suggest an early study rather than a simple reproduction. Regardless of the true authorship of the painting, “La Gioconda” brings into sharp focus the kinds of problems facing conservators and art historians today, and it is a compelling work of undeniable artistic interest on its own.

Numerous copies of the “Mona Lisa” exist. From the Sixteenth Century through the late Nineteenth Century artists traditionally copied acknowledged masterpieces in order to learn more about the stylistic and compositional techniques of the great masters.

The last time the painting was on view at the museum was in early 2004, when it was displayed in conjunction with the lecture “The Da Vinci Code Deciphered” by renaissance scholar Dr Jeannine O’Grody. O’Grody discussed the “real” story about Leonardo da Vinci’s artwork while highlighting the fact and fiction presented in Dan Brown’s novel.

The Portland Museum of Art is at Seven Congress Square. For information, 207-775-6148 or www.portlandmuseum.org.