Louis-Bernard Bonjean (1804–1871) was a French jurist photographed here in a full-length standing portrait on an albumen carte-de-visite by L. Pierson, the sole proprietor of the celebrated Mayer & Pierson studio. The studio operated at the Boulevard des Capucines, where Pierson was associated with the Mayer brothers, Léopold-Ernest and Louis-Frédéric. The firm specialized in portraits of Parisian high society and became the official photographic studio of Emperor Napoleon III in 1856.

Bonjean appears in full judicial ceremonial dress: a voluminous silk robe with a broad white cape falling over both shoulders, ermine-trimmed panels visible along the sides, and a decorative cross or medal at the collar. He holds a plumed tricorn hat in his left hand and stands in a relaxed three-quarter turn, his gaze directed slightly upward and beyond the camera, his wavy gray hair left uncovered. The plain studio floor and neutral backdrop focus all attention on the magnificence of the robes.

On 14 August 1862, Bonjean was made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour; he had previously served as first president of the Court of Riom in 1863 and President of Chamber at the Court of Cassation in 1865. During the Paris Commune he was taken hostage and imprisoned in Mazas Prison, then shot at La Roquette by Commune troops on 24 May 1871, alongside Archbishop of Paris Georges Darboy and four priests, making this portrait a document of one of the most prominent victims of the Commune's final days.

Inscribed in pencil on the reverse: "Judge Bonjean / President of the Paris Court of Appeals / Executed May 24, 1871 at / La Roquette Prison in Paris." The mount bears the printed imprint "Pierson, Seul Propriétaire de la Maison Mayer & Pierson, Photographes de S.M. l'Empereur, Boulevard des Capucines 3, Paris," with "Déposé" and "Garanti d'après nature" (guaranteed from life) printed on the recto, along with penciled notations "3/11/10," "ABBCC/," and "Eb" at the lower reverse.