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 religious art in Scotland to have survived the iconoclasm of the Scottish Reformation in 1560. The painting was taken to England at the Union of the Crowns and was part of the collection of Anne of Denmark wife of James VI and I. In 1618 she gave it to her son Prince Charles, who presented the painting to the Duke of Buckingham. The panels are part of the British Royal Collection and are displayed at the Scottish National Gallery. Description. The four panels depict the following subjects: Edward Bonkil was a  member of a wealthy 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 may express her interests and personal iconography.