Pierre Vésinier, identified by the pencilled inscription “Vésinier, Secy of Commune” on the reverse, was a journalist who served as secretary of the Paris Commune and editor-in-chief of its Journal Officiel. He was elected to the Commune’s governing council on April 16, 1871, representing the 1st arrondissement. The carte de visite was produced by Ch. Reutlinger’s Paris studio at 21 Boulevard Montmartre.

Vésinier appears in a three-quarter bust view, head turned to face the camera with a direct, wide-eyed gaze. He wears a dark frock coat over a waistcoat buttoned to the throat, a wing collar, and a narrow cravat secured with a small pin. His hair is swept back off a high forehead, and a heavy mustache dominates an otherwise clean-shaven face.

A longtime exile for his journalism against the Second Empire, Vésinier returned to Paris after the fall of the Empire in 1870 and launched the newspaper Paris libre following the Commune’s proclamation. After the Commune’s suppression during the Semaine Sanglante, he again fled into exile, settling in London, where he published his own account, Histoire de la Commune de Paris, in 1871.

The reverse carries the pencilled inscription “Vésinier / Secy of Commune” above the printed studio imprint of Ch. Reutlinger, Photographe, 21 Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, noting the studio’s Premier Prix at the 1867 Exposition Universelle.