A man identified on the reverse as "Tité," charged in connection with the burning of the Tuileries, is the subject of this carte-de-visite produced by Ernest Eugène Appert, the Paris-based court photographer who gained exclusive access to a makeshift prison at Versailles and made portraits of individual prisoners following the collapse of the Paris Commune in 1871. Appert was a French photographer known for producing a series of photographs meant to discredit the Communards of 1871, and he supplied the portraits to the military tribunal, offered them as tokens for the families of prisoners, and commercially exploited them. The imprint on the front reads "E. Appert, Phot. / Déposé" alongside "Reproduction interdite" (reproduction forbidden), consistent with his registered, copyright-protected series.

The subject is shown waist-up against a plain neutral ground, wearing a loose, collarless linen work shirt open at the neck, the fabric gathered and slightly disheveled. His dark hair is swept back from his forehead, and his gaze is directed slightly upward and to one side, conveying a composed, almost defiant bearing. His arms hang at his sides, out of frame below the waist.

On 24 May 1871, as government troops moved from Versailles into Paris, the federal authorities ordered the burning of public monuments that were symbols of power, including the Tuileries Palace. Appert issued many of the Communard portraits as cartes-de-visite but also integrated the prisoners' faces into a series of propagandistic photomontages entitled "Crimes of the Commune." This example, with its specific charge notation, belongs to the documented prisoner-portrait series supplied directly to the military tribunal.

The reverse bears the printed studio imprint of E. Appert, "Peintre Photographe / de S.M. la Reine d'Espagne / de S.A.I. le Grand Duc Constantin," at 24, Rue Taitbout, Paris, with medallion awards dated 1853, 1855, 1859, and 1867, and the designations "Photographe du Corps Législatif" (Photographer of the Legislative Assembly) and "Photographe de la Magistrature" (Photographer of the Judiciary). Inscribed in pencil at the top of the reverse: "Tité / (Incend. Tuileries)" ("Tité / (Tuileries fire)").