Louis Charles Delescluze (1809–1871), French revolutionary leader, journalist, and military commander of the Paris Commune, is portrayed in this albumen-print carte de visite produced by the celebrated Paris studio of Étienne Carjat, a French journalist, caricaturist, and photographer best known for his numerous portraits of political, literary, and artistic Parisian figures. The studio imprint on the front face reads "Etienne Carjat & Cie. Phot., 10 Rue N[otre] D[ame] de Lorette," and the elaborate purple verso stamp notes the house was founded in 1867 and lists medals awarded at London (1861), Paris (1863–1864), Berlin (1865), and the Exposition Universelle of 1867, placing the production of this card no earlier than that year.

Delescluze is shown in a close bust-length oval vignette, his gaze directed upward and to the left with an alert, searching expression. He wears a dark frock coat over a light waistcoat, his collar open with a loosely knotted cravat tied in a broad bow, and his full grey beard and swept, thinning hair lend him a weathered, distinguished air.

Born at Dreux in 1809, Delescluze studied law in Paris, joined secret republican societies, took part in the July Revolution of 1830, and by 1836 had been forced into exile in Belgium, where he devoted himself to republican journalism. He was later arrested and sent to the prison colony in French Guiana, an experience he recorded in his memoir *De Paris à Cayenne*. He ultimately helped organize the elections that established the Paris Commune in 1871 and was elected a member from the 11th and 19th arrondissements, dying on the barricades on 25 May 1871.

The reverse bears a purple studio stamp reading "Au rez-de-chaussée / Nouvelle Photographie / Etienne Carjat & Cie / Rue Notre Dame de Lorette 10 / Maison fondée en 1867" (At street level / New Photography / Etienne Carjat & Cie / 10 Rue Notre Dame de Lorette / Firm founded in 1867), with medal citations as noted above, and the subject's surname inscribed in ink in a period hand: "Delescluze."