PORTLAND, ME.- Just in time for the release of the hotly anticipated film The Da Vinci Code, the Portland Museum of Art will display 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 Leonardo 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 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 Leonardo’s hand in its creation. However, similarities are remarkable, and the work contains the characteristics of a left-handed brushstroke, consistent with Leonardo’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 which 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 16th century through the late 19th century artists traditionally copied acknowledged masterpieces in order to learn more about the stylistic and compositional techniques of the great masters.