The Argenteuil railway bridge in its state of wartime ruin is the subject of this albumen silver stereoview, photographed by Jules Andrieu in 1871 as part of his celebrated "Désastres de la Guerre" series, registered at legal deposit on October 30, 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, French troops destroyed the bridge to halt the advance of enemy forces toward Paris. The stereoview is mounted on a salmon-orange card stock with a blue-bordered top edge, consistent with Andrieu's published series format.

The view is taken from the riverbank at close range, looking across the Seine toward the severed spans. Two massive stone bridge piers rise from the water, their cut iron superstructure dangling in twisted collapse between them, while a third pier is visible in the middle distance. The scene documents the destruction and ruins of the suspended bridge structure, the piers, and scattered blocks of stone heaped along the gravel foreshore in the immediate foreground. Beyond the river, a treeline and the facades of riverside buildings are faintly visible against a pale sky.

Several of Andrieu's photographs of the destroyed Argenteuil bridge served as the basis for engravings published in the illustrated press. The bridge was rebuilt in the same style between 1871 and 1872, making this stereoview a document of only a brief window of its destroyed state. The series is represented in the collections of the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

Printed in red ink on the recto of the mount below the image: "DÉSASTRES DE LA GUERRE / 3083. PONT D'ARGENTEUIL, J.A." The reverse bears a cursive ink inscription reading "Mo H. J." in the lower left corner; no other markings are present on the reverse.