Edinburgh900 – Edward Bonkil and the Trinity Altarpiece

Sir Edward Bonkil was the first provost of the Trinity Collegiate Church. He commissioned the most prestigious artwork in Scotland for the church from a renowned Flemish artist in 1476. The altarpiece now has a prominent place in the National Gallery of Scotland. Bonkil came from an ambitious family of merchants trading between Bruges and Edinburgh who owned property in both cities. This talk looks at the status of merchants in Edinburgh, how Bonkil’s family connections enabled him to commission the work and the importance of the altarpiece to Edinburgh, then and now.

Jill Harrison founded the Trinity Network in 2018 with the aim of studying all aspects of the Trinity Apse in Edinburgh now located on Chalmers Close