Charles Ostyn, born François Léopold Charles Hosteins in Paris on October 20, 1823, of Belgian parents, was a prominent anarchist figure of the Paris Commune. This albumen-print carte de visite was produced by the Appert studio at 24 Rue Taitbout, Paris, whose imprint on the mount identifies the photographer as "Peintre Photographe" to the Queen of Spain and to Grand Duke Constantine. Appert was a Parisian photographer accredited to the Tribunal de la Seine who photographed Communards incarcerated at Versailles and issued their portraits as cartes de visite.

The subject is presented in a close bust-length vignette against a plain pale ground, turned slightly to his left with a direct, composed gaze. He wears a dark coat and an open white shirt with a small dark cravat visible at the collar, and his most commanding feature is a full, dense, free-growing beard and mustache that entirely covers his jaw and chin, rendered with fine tonal gradation by the albumen process.

A lathe worker by trade, Ostyn served during the German siege of Paris as a member of the National Guard's first central committee, and on March 26, 1871, was elected to the Council of the Commune by the 19th arrondissement, sitting on the committees for Provisions and Public Services. He voted against the creation of the Committee of Public Safety, and after the Bloody Week he fled to Switzerland, where he joined the Bakuninist Jura Federation.

The reverse bears the printed imprint of E. Appert, "Peintre Photographe," 24 Rue Taitbout, au 1er Étage (formerly 21 Rue Louis-le-Grand), Paris, with the designations "Photographe du Corps Législatif" (Photographer of the Legislative Body) and "Photographe de la Magistrature" (Photographer of the Magistracy), four silver medal emblems dated 1853, 1855, 1859, and 1867, and the notice "Reproduction interdite" (Reproduction prohibited). Inscribed in pencil in a later hand at the top: "Charles Ostyn / French Anarchist Commune." A catalog notation reading "2/20/07 LODGFZ Eb" appears at the lower margin.