Trinity Altarpiece


The Trinity Altarpiece, also known as the Trinity Altar Panels, is a set of four paintings in oil on wood thought to have been commissioned for the Trinity College Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the late fifteenth century.
The work is attributed to the Flemish artist Hugo van der Goes and probably represents the inner and outer panels of the wings of a triptych. The presumed central panel is lost. The painting in the church was described as a "burd" on 17 May 1516 when John Stewart, Duke of Albany made an offering at the high altar on Trinity Sunday.
The work represents a rare example of Scots religious art to have survived the iconoclasm of the Reformation.
The panels are part of the British Royal Art Collection and are displayed at the Scottish National Gallery.

Description

The four panels depict the following subjects:
Edward Bonkil was a member of a wealty Edinburgh merchant family with commercial connections in Bruges. He may have commissioned the altarpiece to strengthen ties of the Trinity Collegiate Church with Margaret of Denmark, and the imagery used express her interests and personal iconography.