Eugène Razoua, born July 16, 1830, in Beaumont-de-Lomagne (Tarn-et-Garonne), was a soldier, journalist, writer, and member of the Paris Commune. Photographed here as a CDV albumen print, the portrait dates to the early 1870s and carries no photographer's imprint on the visible mount. After a brief military career, Razoua became a journalist at *Le Réveil*, the republican newspaper, in 1868, and the portrait conveys the weathered gravity of a man who lived at the center of France's most turbulent republican moment.

The subject is shown in three-quarter bust, wearing a dark frock coat and waistcoat over a white shirt with a large loose cravat bow at the collar. His hair is swept back and streaked with grey, his full beard prominent against pallid skin, and his gaze is direct and slightly downward, lending the image an intensity that accords with the character of a militant politician. The plain neutral studio ground keeps all attention on the face and dress.

Razoua resigned his seat as deputy and joined the Paris Commune as commander of the 61st Battalion (the Montmartre battalion), serving also as director of the Military School and as a member of the court martial. After the fall of the Commune he was condemned to death in absentia and took refuge in Geneva, where he died in exile, never permitted to return to France.

The reverse bears an inscription in ink reading: "Razoua / 50 à 52 ans / petit / maigre / cheveux grisonnants / barbe grise / visage osseux / pâle" (Razoua / 50 to 52 years old / small / thin / greying hair / grey beard / bony face / pale), consistent with a judicial identification record.