Spirit crowning a man with a wreath

Black and white glass slide showing a man sitting on a chair resting his left arm over the side, a spirit hovering at his left holding a wreath over him.
https://nginx-develop-nfsa2.govcms7.amazee.io/sites/default/files/08-2017/1003949_0002_cropped_resized.jpg
Title:
Spirit crowning a man with a wreath
NFSA ID
1003949
Year
1870
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In this glass slide a female spirit appears to be crowning a man with a wreath. We can only imagine how flattering an image this must have been for the man in the photograph.

As with many spirit photographs, the 'living person' appears to be framed in a way to comfortably permit the addition of the spirit in the photograph, which obviously undermines the credibility of the image.

In other glass slides, the 'living person' is shown looking directly at the spirit. It is not known if the subject and photographer in these images could actually see the spirit while the photograph was being taken or whether it appeared after processing. One suspects the photographer may have told the subject where to look and then added the 'spirit' later or the 'spirit' was present already on a pre-exposed photographic plate so the photographer knew where to direct the subject to look.