Portrait Of A Young Girl Making Papillotes, Signed F. Verdier

Portrait of a young girl making wrappers for the Christmas party. She wears a fun folded paper hat and a pretty dress for the occasion. Behind her an engraving represents Saint Nicolas and children in their room.
Oil on canvas in very good condition, early 20th century. Signed lower right F.Verdier, painter perhaps from the Lyon region, active between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.

The Christmas wrapper is unquestionably the star of sweets during the Christmas and New Year celebrations, in the Lyon region and more widely in the Rhône-Alpes. This delicacy comes in the form of a small chocolate, delicately wrapped in gold or silver paper enhanced with shimmering touches of color. The ends of the wrapping feature small fringes; a highly aesthetic detail which means that the chocolate wrapper sometimes ends up hanging in the middle of the Christmas tree decorations. More than a simple chocolate, the papillote Lyonnaise is unwrapped like a gift, first for the eyes, then for the taste buds and finally for the mind. In fact, between the chocolate and the glossy wrapper there is usually a small piece of paper on which you can discover a funny story, a rebus, a maxim or a quote. According to the manufacturers, a firecracker can also accompany the treat.
According to the little story, the most famous Christmas treat in the Lyon region was born thanks to a love story, during the year 1790. Sieur Papillot, a pastry chef from Lyon officiating in Lyon in the district of Terreaux, would have had an apprentice madly in love with a young lady. To show him his feelings, the young man would have discreetly stolen chocolates from the pastry shop and then wrapped them in papers on which appeared sweet words. Sieur Papillot, who finally realized this little trick, did not bother for long with his apprentice and put an end to their collaboration. However, the young man's idea did not fall into oblivion since the pastry chef decided to take it up and adapt it to his business. Enamored writings were replaced by funny stories and quotes, giving birth to a new specialty from Lyon, the