François Achille Bazaine (1811–1888) is depicted here in full dress uniform as a Marshal of France, captured in an albumen-print carte-de-visite issued by the Paris studio of Le Jeune at 22, rue de Choiseul. Le Jeune, who purchased the studio from Sergei Levitsky in 1864, continued to carry the Levitsky name on his cards as successor through at least 1867. The reverse stamp is dated Saint-Cloud, October 1869, placing this portrait firmly within the final year of the Second Empire, before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.

The subject wears a dark military tunic with double rows of brass buttons and broad fringed epaulettes at both shoulders. A wide sash crosses his chest from right shoulder to left hip, and a large starburst decoration, consistent with the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, is suspended from his left breast. A thick mustache and a short imperial beard frame a composed, direct expression, and the vignette format fades the image softly into the cream-colored mount.

Bazaine was promoted to Marshal on September 5, 1864, following his command of the French expeditionary force in Mexico, and in August 1870 was appointed commander in chief of the Army of the Rhine. He made the fatal tactical error of attempting to defend Metz, where his army was surrounded, and the effort by Napoleon III and MacMahon to relieve him led to the decisive French defeat at Sedan, after which Bazaine surrendered the Army of the Rhine. This portrait therefore documents one of the most consequential figures of the late Second Empire at the height of his rank, just months before the catastrophe that defined his legacy.

The reverse bears a purple printed studio stamp reading "Le Jeune, Photographe Breveté de S.A. Le Prince Impérial, Ancienne Mon. Levitsky" (Le Jeune, Licensed Photographer to His Imperial Highness the Prince Imperial, formerly the house of Levitsky), with the notation "St. Cloud, Octobre 1869" (Saint-Cloud, October 1869), and an inscription in pencil at the top reading "Mᵃˡ Bazaine" (Marshal Bazaine).