Napoléon Gaillard, known as Gaillard père, stands for this carte de visite portrait in the dress uniform of his command, identified on the reverse under a variant spelling of his name as “General Gillard.” A Parisian cobbler by trade, Gaillard rose to prominence during the 1870–71 Siege of Paris and was named director general of barricades by War Delegate Louis Rossel on April 30, 1871, with the rank of commandant over the Commune’s special battalion of barricadiers.

He stands at a slight three-quarter turn, one hand resting on a draped studio prop, his gaze directed upward and to the right. The double-breasted dark tunic bears two rows of brass buttons, with gold braid at the cuffs denoting his rank, and he wears a peaked képi with a central stripe and carries an ornate officer’s saber at his hip, its decorated guard and knuckle bow clearly visible. A full, curling beard and a cravat at the standing collar complete the portrait.

As director general of the barricades, Gaillard oversaw construction of the Commune’s defensive works across Paris, including the elaborate fortification at the junction of Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint-Florentin nicknamed the Château-Gaillard. He resigned the post on May 15, 1871, days before the Commune’s suppression, and fled to Geneva.

The reverse is inscribed in pencil, “French General Napoleon Louis Gillard, 1815–1902, Involved in Paris Commune,” over the printed studio imprint of Photographie Thiébault, 31 Boulevard Bonne Nouvelle, 31, en face le Théâtre du Gymnase, Bacard Fils, Gendre & Successeur, with the archival notations “2/28/07,” “L0HIXZ,” and “Eb.”