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GREENSBORO -- The acclaimed poet and critic Randall Jarrell posed for perhaps only two painted portraits in his life.

Greensboro artist Betty Watson painted both. The first hangs in Jackson Library at UNCG, where Jarrell taught from 1947 until he died in 1965.

Now the second portrait has been purchased by the prestigious National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

"It pleases me for myself, of course, and it pleases me for Randall, because I thought he belonged there," Watson says.

Jarrell is considered one of the foremost poets and critics of the mid-20th century. He won a National Book Award in 1960 for his collection "The Woman at the Washington Zoo." He also served a stint as what is now national poet laureate.

The National Portrait Gallery tells the story of prominent Americans through portraits. Jarrell joins poets such as Langston Hughes and Edna St. Vincent Millay.

Until it acquired the painting, the gallery had only one portrait of Jarrell, a 1952 photograph by Rollie McKenna.

Watson's portrait is exactly the type of acquisition that the National Portrait Gallery seeks, says Brandon Fortune, one of its curators.

"Not only was it done during his lifetime, but by someone who knew him well," Fortune says. "Her portrait is based not just on one encounter, but ... years of knowledge of the man, which is so rare but when it happens it's like the perfect storm, in a good way."

Watson met Jarrell in 1953, when she moved here with her husband, Robert, who had been appointed director of UNCG's creative writing program.

Although 44 years have passed since she painted Jarrell, she remembers it well.

"Randall was interested in my painting and how people paint, and he offered to pose for me," she says.

Several years earlier, Watson had painted a more cheerful portrait of Jarrell against a sunny background.

This time, she wanted to portray Jarrell as the contemplative, intelligent person she found him to be.

In 1963, he posed during several sessions at the Guilford College home he shared with his wife, Mary.

Not only was he an interesting conversationalist, "he was very good at holding still, which a lot of people won't do," Watson recalls.

She painted his figure against lavender, with red lines receding toward the horizon.

When she finished, "he didn't have very much to say about it," Watson recalls.

But his wife must have liked it. She leased the portrait from Watson and hung it.

Jarrell died two years after he sat for the portrait. He was struck by a car while walking on a dark road. Some believed it was suicide; his wife challenged that theory, and the coroner's report supported her.

When she moved to smaller quarters, Mary Jarrell returned the portrait to Watson.

She died in July.

Last year, the portrait was shown in a retrospective exhibition of Watson's work at the downtown Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art.

Edie Carpenter, Green Hill's curator, worked with Watson to submit it for the Smithsonian's consideration.

Because its acquisition is so recent, the National Portrait Gallery has not yet put the painting on exhibit.

It might be shown a year from now with other recent acquisitions, Fortune says, but plans are not definite.

Contact Dawn DeCwikiel-Kane at 373-5204 or dkane@news-record.com