André Gill (1840–1885) is shown here in a three-quarter-length studio portrait on an albumen silver print cabinet card, made at the Montmartre studio of Achille Mélandri, the poet-photographer whose atelier at 19 rue Clauzel was subsequently operated by his successor, Poirel. The relaxed, slightly confrontational pose and the subject's own ink signature on the recto mount, reading "L. Loires" in a flowing cursive, underscore the informality that characterized this celebrated French caricaturist and his circle.

Gill wears a dark sack coat over a buttoned waistcoat, with a loosely knotted cravat at the collar, and a low-crowned top hat sits tilted back on his head of curling dark hair. His full mustache and direct, slightly amused gaze into the lens are unmistakable, and he holds a cigarette or thin object lightly between the fingers of his right hand, his left tucked behind him.

Gill became known for his portrait series "The Man of the Day" in the weekly paper La Lune, and his influence marked an entire generation of caricaturists, with celebrated likenesses of Hugo, Gambetta, Dickens, Dumas, Jules Verne, and Bizet. He was also a chansonnier at Montmartre, and it was he who painted the famous sign of the Cabaret des Assassins in 1875, which later became the celebrated Lapin Agile.

The reverse bears the printed imprint "Peinture & Photographie d'Art / Maison Melandri / Poirel Succr / 19, Rue Clauzel / Paris," with the card printed by J. H. Nacivet, Paris. The reverse is inscribed twice in pencil and graphite as "André Gill," and bears the notations "11/13/08," "DOLFFZ," and "Eb" in the lower margin.