The fallen Vendôme Column lies shattered across the Place Vendôme in this albumen silver cabinet card made by Ernest Alexandre Ladrey, a Paris-based photographer active from the early 1860s through 1889 with a studio at the Passage des Princes. The Vendôme Column had been erected by Napoleon I to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz and was torn down on 16 May 1871 by decree of the Paris Commune. The image was almost certainly captured within days of that event, placing it among the earliest documentary records of one of the defining acts of the Commune.

The view is wide and elevated, taking in the full north range of the square's uniform classical facades, with mansard rooflines, arched ground-floor bays, and striped window awnings visible across the entire run of buildings. The column's bronze drum lies in a massive heap at center, its spiraling bas-relief panels scattered in broken sections across the paving stones, while the empty stone pedestal stands at right, conspicuous and intact. Scores of Parisians line the perimeter of the debris field, many in top hats and long coats, and small groups cluster near the wreckage as if examining it at close range.

The column had been modeled on Trajan's Column in Rome, and its 425 bronze bas-relief panels spiraling upward were made from captured cannon. Six days after the column was toppled, the Assemblée de Versailles decided to rebuild it, and by 1873 an identical copy had been reconstructed. Ernest Ladrey (1830–1889) was a French photographer active from 1860 to 1889, with a studio in Paris situated at the Passage des Princes, between the Boulevard des Italiens and the Rue de Richelieu.

The recto of the mount bears the printed imprint "E. LADREY, PHOT." at lower left and "PASSAGE DES PRINCES PARIS." at lower right. The verso is inscribed in pencil: "3/25/07," "D0FGI2," and "ED."