Carte-de-visite three quarter length portrait of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. He is shown from a frontal viewpoint and turns his head slightly to the right of the image. He has wavy hair and a mutton chop beard. He is wearing military uniform adorned with an insignia, worn at his neck.

Karl Ludwig was the younger brother of Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830–1916), the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863–1914), whose assassination ignited the start of World War I.