A secretary to Raoul Rigault, the Paris Commune's prefect of police and later public prosecutor, sits for this carte de visite at the studio of Étienne Carjat, one of the foremost portraitists of Second Empire and Commune-era Paris. Carjat operated at 10 rue Notre-Dame-de-Lorette from 1869 onward, placing this portrait within that period. A close ally of Courbet, Carjat actively supported the Commune of Paris in 1871, making his studio a natural point of contact for figures in Rigault's immediate circle.

The subject is shown in a three-quarter profile facing left, presented within a printed oval vignette on an albumen print. He wears a dark sack coat over a matching waistcoat with visible buttons and a watch chain, a white shirt, and a loosely knotted cravat. His dark hair is worn swept back, and his expression is calm and directed slightly upward.

Raoul Rigault (1846–1871) was a journalist and French Socialist revolutionary best known for his role during the Paris Commune of 1871. He served as delegate to the General Security and public prosecutor of the Commune, and fell during the Bloody Week on 24 May, fighting at the barricade on rue Soufflot before being shot without trial on rue Gay-Lussac.

Inscribed in pencil on the reverse: "Decosta / secrétaire de Raoul Rigault" ("Decosta / secretary of Raoul Rigault"). The printed studio imprint reads "Étienne Carjat & Cie Phot., 10 Rue Notre-Dame de Lorette, au rez-de-chaussée, Paris," with medal citations for London 1861, Paris 1863–1864, Berlin 1865, and the Exposition Universelle 1867.