“The Oval Portrait”, by Edgar Allan Poe, short summary :

The story starts with the narrator (name not given) who was badly wounded.
With his servant (Pedro), he takes shelter in an abandoned chateau (castle)
in the Apennines (mountain range in Italy). They settled in the smallest room
which was full of many paintings.

He took interest in the paintings on the wall, looking at them in candle light.
There he also found a book on the pillow which gave full information about
the paintings there.

After looking at the paintings for a long time, he adjusted his candelabra (a
large branched candlestick) to be able to read better. Then suddenly he
discovered a particular painting (The Oval Portrait) which he had not noticed
till then.

It was an oval shaped painting of an extremely beautiful young lady. Only

the head and shoulders were painted. The narrator was too much attracted
by it, and kept watching it for about an hour. He felt the painting had an
'absolutely life-likeness'. Then he started reading information about the
painting given in the book.

The book described a tragic story regarding the painting and the woman. She
had loved and married the painter. But he used to care more about his art
than anything else in the world including his wife.

One day he asked her to be the subject for his painting and to sit for it, and
she agreed to it. He started the painting, and it took weeks to complete it.
During all this period the painter was so involved in making his painting a
'life-like' portrait that he didn't even notice the health condition of the lady.

As he neared the end of his work, he didn't allow anybody to enter the room.
He continued with his work. Finally he finished it. And, by the time he looked
over at his wife, to his surprise he discovered that she had died.