It depicts the reigning French king Louis Philippe I in the uniform of the National Guard with a copy of the Charter of 1830.

[1] Louis Philippe, a distant cousin of the previous monarch Charles X, came to power following the July Revolution of 1830.

[2] Gérard was adept at accommodating himself to the changing rulers of France, having previously produced numerous portraits of Napoleon's Bonaparte Dynasty and then the royal family during the Restoration period.

It was based on a painting produced for the City Hall of Paris in 1831 which was later destroyed.

Today the painting is in the collection of the Palace of Versailles.