Adolphe Crémieux, one of the most consequential French statesmen of the nineteenth century, is portrayed here in a CDV produced at the Paris studio of André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri, the photographer credited with patenting the carte-de-visite format and serving as official photographer to Emperor Napoleon III. Crémieux served as Minister of Justice under the Second Republic in 1848 and again under the Government of National Defense in 1870 to 1871. Disdéri established his studio at 8, Boulevard des Italiens, Paris, and it was there that he registered his patent for the carte-de-visite portrait.

Crémieux stands in three-quarter length against a neutral studio backdrop, one hand resting on the tufted arm of an upholstered chaise longue with a decorative rosette and tassel at its head. He wears a long dark frock coat over a double-breasted waistcoat with small buttons, a white shirt, and a loosely tied cravat. His full, curly white hair frames a composed, somewhat heavy-lidded expression, and a carved side table is partially visible at left.

Crémieux secured French citizenship for Algerian Jews under French rule through the Crémieux Decree of 1870 and was a founder of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, serving as its president from 1863 to 1880. Disdéri's studio attracted the highest-ranking French personalities and celebrated figures from around the world, making a Disdéri portrait of Crémieux a natural pairing of two of the era's most prominent names.

The reverse bears the printed studio imprint "Paris, 8 Boulevard des Italiens" in vertical orientation along the left margin, along with the Disdéri signature in red ink. Inscribed in pencil at the top of the reverse: "CREMIEUX" and below, "Adolphe Cremieux / French Politician." A catalog notation reads "2/22/07 LOACBZ E6."