Dion Boucicault, identified on the reverse by ink inscription as actor and playwright, is portrayed in a full-length comic stage pose in this CDV by Carl Gustafson, Karlskrona, 28 Ronnebygatan, and Ronneby, Brunnsvägen, Sweden, dating to the 1870s or early 1880s. The animated pose and white costume distinguish this as a character portrait rather than a conventional studio sitting, and the Swedish studio attribution places it during one of Boucicault's documented European touring periods.

Boucicault stands in full length wearing an all-white costume consisting of a loose billowing smock, wide trousers, and a soft white cook's or clown's cap tilted to one side, his eyes nearly closed and his expression caught in a broad grin, one hand raised with fingers spread and the other held loosely at his side. His stance is wide and dynamic, suggesting a mid-performance comic moment frozen for the camera. The plain tonal background gives the figure full visual prominence.

Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) was one of the most prolific and influential Irish-born playwrights and actors of the nineteenth century, credited with writing or adapting more than two hundred plays and pioneering the melodrama form on both sides of the Atlantic. His works including The Colleen Bawn, The Octoroon, and The Shaughraun were among the most performed plays of the Victorian era.

The reverse bears the printed imprint of Carl Gustafson, Karlskrona and Ronneby, Sweden, with ink inscriptions reading "Dion Boucicault, Actor-Playwright" and penciled notations "407," "15," "20," and "25."