Adolphe Thiers (1797–1877), a prominent French statesman, journalist, and historian, served as the first president of the Third Republic from 1871 to 1873. This albumen carte de visite presents a bust-length portrait of Thiers in his later years, produced by H. Le Lieure, a photographer operating at the Jardin Public and holding an appointment as photographer to His Majesty, placing the image most likely in the early 1870s.

The subject appears as an elderly man with a rounded, heavy-jowled face, thinning white hair swept back from the forehead, and small oval wire-rimmed spectacles resting low on the nose. He wears a dark frock coat with wide lapels and a white shirt collar with a dark cravat knotted at the throat, and his gaze is directed slightly off-axis with a composed, impassive expression. The subject's name, "Thiers," is printed in gothic script at the base of the image recto.

Thiers held significant roles under the Orleanist monarchy, including minister of the interior, and opposed the war with Prussia, gaining prominence after France's defeat in 1870. Elected chief of executive power in February 1871 and later as president, he suppressed the Paris Commune insurrection but resigned in 1873 after failing to win monarchist support. His tenure made him one of the most consequential and contested French political figures of the nineteenth century.

Reverse bears the printed imprint "H. Le Lieure / Photographe de S.M. / Jardin Public" surmounted by three crowned armorial shields. A pencil inscription in the upper portion reads "Gt. Cluseret," and a later pencil notation at the lower portion reads "Gen. Gustave Cluseret / Ameri. Civil War / 5/18/10 LOCDFZ Eb"; these secondary inscriptions misidentify the subject, who is identified by the original printed label on the recto as Thiers.