Carte de visite albumen portrait of Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), photographed by Ch. Reutlinger, Paris. The image shows the celebrated French Realist painter seated in profile, wearing a dark suit and full beard against a studio landscape backdrop. The mount and imprint indicate a production date in the late 1868s.

Courbet was one of the central figures of the Realist movement in French painting, known for works such as The Stone Breakers, Burial at Ornans, and The Origin of the World. Rejecting academic idealization, he insisted on painting contemporary life and ordinary people with direct observation, influencing later developments in Impressionism and modern art.

Photographer’s imprint on the mount reads Ch. Reutlinger, Photographe, 21 Boulevard Montmartre, Paris, with exhibition medals on the reverse and a period ink identification reading “Courbet.”