Trudon

Founded in 1643, Maison de Cire Trudon is notable as the oldest wax-producing factory worldwide. It was the provider of the royal court of Louis XIV, as well as most of the great churches of France.

Trudon had become the biggest wax-producing factory in the French Kingdom during the 17th and 18th century. In 1762, in his encyclopaedia "The art of the wax producer", engineer Duhamel du Monceau, praises the skills of the Trudons and gives the manufacture as an example. Such a level of quality will earn Charles Trudon to be appointed by King Louis XIV as Earl Trudon des Ormes.

In 1643, a salesman named Claude Trudon arrives in Paris. He soon becomes the owner of a shop on Saint-Honoré, which provides its customers with wax, candles for any domestic usage as well as church candles to the neighbouring Saint Roch parish. The candles are “home made” developing and building on a specific manufacturing process.

On the eve of the reign of Louis XIV, M. Trudon establishes his first family owned factory which will bear his name and will make the fortune of his heirs. Jacques, his son takes over, becoming grocer and wax producer and joins in the Versailles royal court in 1687 as apothecary and distiller of Queen Marie-Thérèse.

At the time, wax was under high scrutiny: carefully collected on the hive, it is bleached through a series of pure water baths that wash off all the impurities. Dried in the open air, the wax is whitened by sunlight. When burning, the flame lights the translucent edges generating the glowing aura of the candle.

In 1737, Hierosme Trudon, heir of the family, purchases one of the most famous wax producing factories of the times that belonged to Lord Pean de Saint Gilles. Pean de Saint Gilles was then the official wax provider to the King. Drawing from the family expertise, Hierosme devotes his skills to the development of his vast factory. Skilful and very demanding, he produces a wax of very high quality, collecting it from the best hives of the kingdom trading directly with the producers. The wax is then treated with the utmost attention: it is washed with the purest water after being filtered with gypsum, guaranteeing the highest quality. The factory also imports the finest cotton to manufacture wicks whose combustion is clean and regular: the Trudon candles, so white and so perfect, can burn for hours without crackling; their flame does not tremble nor smoke! They already were the very best of luxury…

Maison de Cire Trudon furnishes candles to the royal court, and cathedrals and churches over France. More than one hundred persons work at the time in a very large building – registered in the French inventory of historical monuments – in the city of Anthony. In 1762, in his encyclopaedia "The art of the wax producer", engineer Duhamel du Monceau praises the skills of the Trudons and gives the manufacture as an example. Its Latin motto and its blazon are engraved on a stone board of the factory building: a depiction of hives and bees bordered by the saying: Deo regique laborant (“they work for God and for The King”). Such a level of excellence will earn Charles Trudon to be appointed by Louis XIV as Earl Trudon des Ormes.

Maison Trudon still keep records of recipe and tools of wax whitening: wrought iron, 17th century pans. The moulds used to form candles and bearing the royal blazons still have “ cierge paschal pour la Chapelle du Roy à Versailles, Bougies de nuit pour le Roy”… (“Easter candle church for the Royal Chapel in Versailles, night candle for the King”…)

Trudon supplied the Versailles castle until the end of the monarchy: during his captivity, Louis XVI will use the candles of his royal wax manufacturer. The blazon and the motto will be hidden under a layer of mortar to avoid the furies of the Revolution.It is still today the candles furnisher of many churches, like Saint-Roch church in Paris, which burns their candles since 1643.

The manufacture distributes its products in France and abroad. It makes vegetal wax candles for the greatest French and international brands (Hermès, Cartier, Dior, Guerlain, Kenzo…etc) as well as for palaces and high-grade restaurants.

Sources

Trudon in the Encyclopedia [http://books.google.fr/books?id=KnM5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA20&dq=trudon+cirier&as_brr=0#PPA20,M1 "Bibliothèque des sciences, et des beaux arts" (1754)]

Trudon in the book [http://books.google.fr/books?as_brr=0&id=aTg1AAAAIAAJ&dq=trudon+cirier&q=trudon&pgis=1 "Napoléon et son fils" (1929)]

External links

Trudon cited in Honoré de Balzac's [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01/2rthc10.txt The Human Comedy] and [http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01/2rthc10.txt The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau]