Alphonse Humbert was a journalist and Blanquist militant who became a member of the Paris Commune, during which he participated in the writing of the revolutionary newspaper Le Père Duchêne. This carte-de-visite was produced by E. Gatel, Photographe Éditeur, operating at 173, Galerie de Valois, Palais Royal, Paris, and dates to the 1870s based on the inscription on the reverse. The studio identified itself as successor to E. Bondonneau at the same address, and its imprint incorporates the city of Paris motto device, "Fluctuat Nec Mergitur," with a sailing ship in full sail.

Humbert is shown in a three-quarter bust pose within a vignette oval, turned slightly left with his gaze lifted beyond the frame. He wears a dark single-breasted frock coat with wide lapels over a striped cravat loosely knotted at the collar. His full beard and mustache are neatly trimmed, and his dark hair is swept back and gathered into a loose bun at the nape, a style consistent with Bohemian journalistic and radical political circles of the period.

The Commune-era Le Père Duchêne, of which Humbert was one of three editors alongside Eugène Vermersch and Maxime Vuillaume, ran for 68 issues from March 6 to May 22, 1871. Humbert had signed the Red Poster in January 1871 and joined the Commune; after Versaillais troops entered Paris, he was arrested and brought before a military court in November 1872.

The reverse bears a handwritten inscription in ink reading "Humbert, Père Duchêne / 1870s," with a further pencil annotation reading "Alphonse Humbert, Publisher of Pere Duchene, revolutionary newspaper during Commune." A catalog notation "7/10/07 LBBAAEX + Eb" appears at the lower left of the reverse. The studio imprint reads "E. Gatel, Photographe Éditeur, Breveté s.g.d.g., Prédécesseur & Successeur de E. Bondonneau, Galerie de Valois, 173 (Palais Royal), Paris."