Her husband, who died in 1919. This left her with 4 children, only 2 of whom were able to leave Russia and join her in Paris after the Communist takeover. (http://artcontrarian.blogspot.nl/2014/12/zinaida-serebriakovas-sweet-smiles.html) In 1919 her husband Boris died of typhus contracted in Bolshevik jails. She was left without any income, responsible for her 4 children and her sick mother. All the reserves of Neskuchnoye had been plundered, so the family suffered from hunger. She had to give up oil painting in favour of the less expensive techniques of charcoal and pencil. This was the time of her most tragic painting, House of Cards, which depicts her 4 orphaned children. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinaida_Serebriakova)