Designer: P.T. Selbit and David P. Abbott
Dr. Wilmar (William Marriott) was a researcher into psychic phenomena and he claimed to have developed a method for allowing a painting to materialize on a canvas. He presented it on stage at St. George's Hall. Selbit recognized the value in the method and created a means to make the illusion mechanical so that it was self-working. Selbit made an agreement with Dr. Wilmar to take over the illusion and present it with his improvements, retaining the name of Wilmar in association with it and paying him a substantial royalty on all performances.
PT Selbit: Magical Innovator recorded that Selbit's first performance of the illusion was on April 18th, 1910 at the London Pavilion where it topped the bill. One hundred pounds was offered to anyone who could prove the canvases had been prepared beforehand. The first picture was the famous "Rokeby Venus" and included a miniature portrait of Velasquez in the place of the signature.
Selbit wrote in The Wizard:
In this new performance, a dozen large transparent (Selbit meant translucent) canvases will be submitted to a committee invited on to the stage. They will select and mark two canvases and place them, face to face, in an empty frame raised clear from the floor. A bunch of electric lights will then be placed behind the canvases so that they may be seen to be clear.
The committee will now be asked to choose any one of the old masters, and the spirits will at once reproduce one of the chosen painter's best-known works. The picture will appear gradually and in beautiful colors, closely following the original.
The material in which these pictures are executed resembles pastels, and comes off in a powder if rubbed with the fingers. Each picture will measure 40 inches by 50 inches, and a guarantee will be given that no chemicals are used in the performance. One of the most mystifying characteristics of the invention is that the picture will appear on either of the marked canvases, back or front - also, the coloring does not penetrate the canvas.
Selbit arranged for other magicians to show the act and he took it himself to Paris where he exhibited it at Alhambra under the billing, "Les Peintures Phantome de Dr. Wilmar." Selbit didn't know French, but took a crash course from the famous Berlitz School of Languages learning enough to present his act.
Typical paintings used included Gainsborough's "Blue Boy" or "Girl in Pink," Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and Landseer's "Stag at Bay."
Upon returning from Paris, Selbit toured England and then booked the Orpheum Circuit in America. He performed first in Cincinnati on Christmas day in 1910 and then in Memphis, New Orleans, and Kansas City.
When Selbit came to Omaha, he met David P. Abbott who claimed the illusion was his own. It turns out that Dr. Wilmar had heard of Abbott's presentations and after some correspondence, Abbott revealed the method. Wilmar suggested that Abbott keep the secret since it was too good to publish and then he proceeded to create a stage version based on Abbott's secret. Wilmar never mentioned Abbott in his dealings with Selbit and so naturally Selbit didn't know. Abbott let the matter slide, satisfied he now had the proper credit.
In 1912, Henry Clive published an advertisement in Variety that mentioned he had the sole rights to perform Spirit Paintings in America, an arrangement made with Selbit. He was to perform the effect at Hammerstein's for "This week and for three weeks."
On November 12, 1919 Selbit applied for a patent for "Method and Means for Producing an Optical Illusion" and the British patent was granted on February 14, 1921. (Patent No. 158,976) This patent was for Selbit's improvements on Spirit Paintings which he called "Masterpieces." In this improvement, he would have the paintings develop in several stages instead of all at once.