Trinity Altarpiece

The presumed central panel is lost; probably it contained a Virgin and Child. Van der Goes died in 1482, and the prince presumed to be the future James IV of Scotland was born in 1473; he appears to be at least five years old. The painting in the church was described as a "burd" ("board") 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 central panel was perhaps destroyed at this point. In the absence of any archival evidence, the inclusion of the portrait of the cleric Edward Bonkil (identified by heraldry) links the painting with the Trinity Church in Edinburgh, and it is possible that he commissioned the painting.

It is recorded as the work of Hugo van der Goes. Materials recorded for it are oil paint and oak panel. Recorded constituent parts are Trinity. The record gives 1478 as its date of establishment or first appearance. Recorded genres are religious art. It is recorded in the collection of Royal Collection, National Galleries Scotland and Scottish National Gallery.

The painting was taken to England soon after the Union of the Crowns and in 1617 was recorded in the collection of Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI and I, at Oatlands, the panels unjointed and as yet "unhanged". According to notes added to the inventory, in 1618 Anne gave the picture to her son Prince Charles, who presented the painting to the Duke of Buckingham, but it is uncertain if the gift was made. The altarpiece was at Hampton Court in 1650. In 1857 Queen Victoria had the painting installed at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and for many years it was placed in the palace gallery alongside the portraits of Scottish monarchs by Jacob de Wet II.

Edward Bonkil was a member of a wealthy Edinburgh merchant family with commercial connections in Bruges. His father, Robert Bonkil, owned a house in Bruges. Edward's older brother, Alexander Bonkil, was a member of the Bruges Confraternity of the Holy Snow. 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.