AUGUSTA – A portrait of George Washington that may have languished in a broom closet for years is being restored so that it can be displayed in the State House again.

The badly damaged oil painting, “Washington on Dorchester Heights,” is believed to be the first work of art acquired by the state. The full-length portrait depicts a triumphant Washington beside his horse during the British evacuation of Boston in 1776.

A 19th century artist, Thomas Spear of Massachusetts, painted the portrait. The painting is 11 feet tall in its frame. The state acquired the painting on loan in 1836.

The state considers the painting to be one of a kind and irreplaceable for its historic value, even though its appraised value is only $6,500,

It is a reproduction of an earlier painting by Gilbert Stuart, the famed Rhode Islander who is credited with having created a distinctive American style of portrait painting.

The Spear painting and its large, ornate frame are being restored by the Williamstown Art Conservation Center in Massachusetts for $25,000. The state-funded State House and Capitol Park Commission in Augusta is footing the bill.

Spear first sold a copy of the Stuart painting to Augusta, Ga. He then tried to sell a second to Augusta, Maine, but the Legislature refused to put up the money, according to Augusta historian Anthony Douin.

Spear then apparently loaned the painting to the state, prompting the Gospel Banner, an Augusta newspaper, to call for the painting to remain in the Capitol.

The paper got its wish, but it’s unclear whether Spear was ever paid.

The painting was moved from one location to another before winding up in a relatively obscure spot on the fourth floor in 1945.

There’s still some mystery about what happened next.

People at the Maine State Museum who have dealt with the painting have heard of its supposed disappearance into a closet, but no one can confirm the tale.

“The level of damage to the surface is consistent with that sort of thing having happened to it,” said Julia Hunter, a staff member at the Maine State Museum. “You don’t get that many dings on something when it’s well cared for.”

Hunter said the painting is pocked with holes she called “door abrasions,” which she said could indicate that a door had opened directly onto the painting.

By 1990, the portrait had been returned to the state museum. Aside from the door abrasions, it had been damaged by years of exposure to cigarette smoke and earlier efforts to fix it.

“It was in wretched shape,” said Deanna Bonner-Ganter, a curator at the Maine State Museum, which has jurisdiction over the State House portrait collection.