André Gill, born Louis-Alexandre Gosset de Guînes in Paris in 1840, adopted his celebrated pseudonym in homage to his hero James Gillray and is depicted here in a posed studio composition that perfectly suits his artistic persona. The photograph is a carte-de-visite by Ch. Reutlinger, whose portraits won prestigious awards in Berlin, Hamburg, and at Paris's World Exhibition. Reutlinger established his studio on the Boulevard Montmartre, and the back mark on this CDV reflects his standing as Premier Prix winner at the Exposition Universelle of 1867, dating the imprint to circa 1867 or shortly after.

Gill is seated in a carved upholstered parlor chair at a round table draped in dark fabric, his body turned in three-quarter profile toward the table. He leans forward with his left elbow on the table, pen in hand, as if composing or sketching, while a framed picture or portfolio leans open before him. An inkwell and a small personal object rest on the table beside the frame. He wears a dark sack coat with a white shirt and cravat, dark trousers, and polished ankle boots, his curly dark hair and short mustache clearly rendered.

Gill enjoyed enormous success as a caricaturist for publications including La Lune and L'Éclipse, and was noted for his pioneering style of drawing enlarged heads upon small bodies. His caricature subjects included Sarah Bernhardt, Victor Hugo, Émile Zola, Charles Dickens, and Richard Wagner, making him one of the most prominent satirical artists of Second Empire and Third Republic Paris.

The reverse bears the Reutlinger studio imprint with medal devices for Paris 1867, Berlin 1866, and Hamburg 1868, and is inscribed in ink at the top "André Gill / Dessinateur" (André Gill / Illustrator-Draftsman), with a second pencil inscription lower reading "Andre Gill / French Caricaturist," followed by the notation "3/07/07 LOHIEZ Eb."