Jules François Simon (1814–1896) was a French statesman and philosopher and one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans in the Third French Republic. This carte-de-visite portrait was made by Étienne Carjat & Cie at their studio at 10 rue Notre-Dame de Lorette, Paris, placing it within the period 1869 to 1884, when Carjat operated from that address. Carjat was best known for his numerous portraits and caricatures of political, literary, and artistic Parisian figures, and Simon was precisely the kind of prominent republican intellectual his lens regularly sought.

Simon is depicted in a three-quarter bust view, his gaze directed slightly above the camera with a composed, searching expression. He wears a dark wool overcoat with wide lapels trimmed with cord piping over a buttoned waistcoat, with a wide white collar and dark cravat visible beneath; a watch chain loops across the lower vest. His dark hair falls in long waves and he carries a full, dense beard that reaches his chest.

Simon was born in Lorient on December 31, 1814, and was elected to the National Assembly of 1848 as a liberal, philosophically devoted to freedom of speech, worship, and thought; he opposed the coup d'état of Louis-Napoléon in December 1851 and was suspended from his academic post at the Sorbonne. He later served as Prime Minister of France from December 1876 to May 1877, becoming a central figure in the formative crisis of the Third Republic.

The reverse bears a printed imprint for Photographie Thiébault, Bacard Fils, Gendre and Successeur, 31 Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, Paris, indicating a reprint or publisher's distribution backing rather than Carjat's own mount. Inscribed in pencil on the reverse: "Jules Simon / French Statesman and Philosopher / (1814–1896)." Also inscribed in pencil: "3/02/07," "Colaez," and "Eb."