Is this a real photo of Nikola Tesla in his lab?

This image of Nikola Tesla in his lab is kinda sorta real. But much like the Frank Hurley WWI photo we looked at a few weeks ago, this wasn't a single snapshot. It's a multiple-exposure photo that makes it look a bit more badass than it truly was.

The image was created at Tesla's Colorado Springs lab in 1899 and is described in the 1996 biography of Tesla by Marc Seifer:

The wizard at his Colorado Springs laboratory sitting among sixty-foot electrical sparks in this illustrious multiple-exposure photograph.

One of the stranger claims made by many Tesla boosters of today was that Tesla didn't know how to properly promote himself, and was thus forgotten by history unjustly. As W. Bernard Carlson explained fantastically in his new biography of Tesla (the best biography of Tesla, if you ask me) the man was a consummate performer who loved to wow audiences with illusions. And this composite photo is a perfect example of his flair for the dramatic.

It's a fantastic photo. But it's not exactly what many claim it to be.