I think Gadget may well have been right in suggesting it could a combined photo. The lady looks faded compared to the man, and is all to the side, when you'd expect a respected older relative to have been given equal prominence. It's as if his clearly defined image has been superimposed on an older photo of her, with the gloves added to cover hands that were not in the right position. The hand on his shoulder looks awkward, and seems slightly at odds with the angle of her shoulder and upper arm. What might be taken for the edge of her dress behind his right leg looks to me like the leg of his chair. I'd suggest the lady is his mother and this photograph has been cleverly created after her death as a memento of the two of them together.
