Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay, French writer, politician, and polemical journalist, is depicted in this albumen carte-de-visite produced by Ch. Reutlinger at his celebrated Paris studio. The Reutlinger Studio on the Boulevard Montmartre specialized in portraits and cartes-de-visite, quickly establishing itself as an accomplished celebrity photographer of the period. The reverse imprint references medals awarded at Paris 1867, Berlin 1866, and Hamburg 1868, placing the card's production within the studio's peak years under Charles Reutlinger, who handed the studio to his brother Emile in 1880.

Rochefort is shown in a bust-length vignette pose, turned slightly three-quarters to the left with a direct, unflinching gaze. He wears a dark frock coat with wide lapels over a white shirt with a high collar, finished with a substantial bow tie at the throat. His hair is thick and loosely curled, and he carries a full drooping mustache paired with a pointed chin beard that gives his face a sharply recognizable silhouette.

A gifted polemical journalist under the Second Empire and the Third Republic, Rochefort founded the incendiary weekly newspaper La Lanterne in 1868, which was quickly suppressed for its opposition to Napoleon III. A career that included duels, prosecutions, and more than one imprisonment made Rochefort one of the best-known political and journalistic figures of his day, and he is remembered as "the prince of press controversy."

The reverse bears the printed studio imprint "CH. REUTLINGER / PHOTOGRAPHE / 21, Boulevard Montmartre, 21 / PARIS," flanked by the phrases "Déposé" (registered) and "Garanti d'après nature" (guaranteed from life), together with a decorative arrangement of award medallions. The reverse also bears an autograph signature in ink reading "Rochefort."