The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 4 plus 4 letter word MONA LISA
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
M
O
N
A
L
I
S
A
More clues leading to the result MONA LISA
- Portrait of animal so original
- Alas I’m no fancy oil painting
- Portrait of Somalian vandalised
- One painting over wild animals’ shelters
- Oil, basil, an omelette needs for serving up
- My French pseudonym used, when exchanging painting
- Somewhat hormonal, Isabella is an enigmatic figure
- Picture of animal so moving
- The mystery is, alas, I’m no oil painting!
- 60% of cash fighter’s originally assigned for portrait
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "portrait" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case portrait = mona lisa.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.