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.
Speaker
Jill Harrison
Jill Harrison, lecturer in Art History and Research Associate, Open University, founded the Trinity Network in 2018 with the aim of studying all aspects of the Trinity Apse in Edinburgh now located on Chalmers Close.
In order to secure an appropriate future for this iconic building, they have forged connections with a number of Edinburgh stakeholders: Morningside Heritage Association, Old Edinburgh Club, Edinburgh Museums and Galleries, Dorothy Dunnett Society, Friends of Calton Hill, the Crannie Community Hub, Historic Environment Scotland, Grassmarket Residents Association, the Cockburn Society, Heriot Watt University and Edinburgh University.
They have mounted lectures and Open Days in the Apse, and are currently editing a book on the Trinity Apse to be published in 2025. Jill Harrison is the recipient of an OEC Jean Guild Award for a 2- year project to produce a survey of all the Trinity stones dispersed over Edinburgh following the demolition of the building in 1848.
