1668-70 Church of St Nicholas, Perk

Address: Tervuurseweg between #134 and #136, 1820 Steenokkerzeel – Perk
Co-ordinates: 50.93346, 4.49754 
Distance from central Brussels: 15 km
Open: 9.30-10.15 on Sunday mornings. It is polite to attend Mass as well before starting to take photos.
Parking: on Tervuursesteenweg
How to get there by public transport:
Buses 225 and 280 from Vilvoorde railway station, and buses 681 and 682 from the airport, all stop just outside.
How good is it? Modest but effective.
Date of my visit: 12 December 2021

Baron Frederik de Marselaer (1584-1670) served seven terms as mayor of Brussels and was generally a well-known courtier and statesman. Through his marriage to Margaretha van Baronaige, the only child of aristocratic parents, he became Lord of Perk, a small village just north of what is now Zaventem airport, and other places. His wife died in 1646; twenty years, later, approaching the end of his own life, he remodeled the church at Perk to his own desires, and brought in Jan Christian Hansche as part of that process.

After Mass one Sunday in December 2021 there was no problem for me to photograph this little jewel of Hansche’s work, but I was told that it is likely to be restored some time in the next couple of years, so check before you go. Just to give you perspective, here are two shots of the ceiling from different directions, first from the door looking towards the altar, second from the altar looking towards the organ over the door.

The six panels show the four Evangelists, the church’s original patron (the Blessed Virgin) and its current patron (my own saint, St Nicholas). The order from door to altar is John, Matthew, Nicholas, Mary, Luke, Mark, but I’ll present them in the more traditional order.

St Matthew and the angel
St Mark and the lion
St Luke and the ox
Poor St John and the eagle are hidden by the organ
The Blessed Virgin and child – not sure what she is holding, but it’s one of the classic Hansche leaning-out-of-the-ceiling pieces
And St Nicholas with the three children who he resurrected; his mitre and the middle child both leaning into our space.

The stucco is not in the best of shape after 350 years, but even so, the middle two panels, of St Nicholas and the Blessed Virgin, are electrifying.

A recently published article, Jan Caluwaerts, Valerie Herremans and Jan Verbeke, “Het stucensemble van de Sint-Niklaaskerk in Perk: Een sleutelwerk in het oeuvre van de Brusselse kalcksnijder Jan Christiaen Hansche”, in Monumenten en Landschappen (2023) 42/2 p. 39-56, looks at the Perk ceiling in much more detail, and sources the depictions of the evangelists from the engravings in the Vita, Passio, et Resurrectio Iesu Christi by Adriaen Collaert after Maerten de Vos, published in Antwerp in 1598. It’s very much worth reading this anyway as the latest published research on Hansche.

Introduction: The amazing stucco ceilings of Jan Christiaan Hansche

(The one that might not be by Hansche in the Gent law library)

The ceilings of Jan Christiaan Hansche, from most to least amazing:

Leuven – Park Abbey | Modave Castle | Gent – Brouwershuis | Antwerp – Sacristy of the Church of St Charles Borromeo | Sint-Pieters-Rode – Horst Castle | Machelen – Beaulieu Castle | Gent – Canfyn House (in storage) | Wesel, Germany (Fischmarkt) (destroyed) | Kleve, Germany (destroyed) | Perk – Church of St Nicholas | Wesel, Germany (Zaudy) (destroyed) | Brussels – Church of the Sablon | Franc-Waret – Church of St Remigius | Aarschot – Schoonhoven Castle | Leuven – Priory of the Vale of St Martin (destroyed, little known)

The ceilings of Jan Christiaan Hansche, from earliest to latest date of creation:

1653: Antwerp – Sacristy of the Church of St Charles Borromeo | 1655: Sint-Pieters-Rode – Horst Castle | 1659: Machelen – Beaulieu Castle | 1666-72: Modave Castle | 1668-70: Perk – Church of St Nicholas | 1669: Franc-Waret – Church of St Remigius | 1670s: Leuven – Priory of the Vale of St Martin (destroyed) | 1671: Aarschot – Schoonhoven Castle | 1672: Wesel, Germany (Fischmarkt) (destroyed) | 1672/79: Leuven – Park Abbey | 1673: Gent – Canfyn House (in storage) | 1673: Gent – Brouwershuis | 1677: Kleve, Germany (destroyed) | 1677 Wesel, Germany (Zaudy) (destroyed) | 1684: Brussels – Church of the Sablon

The ceilings of Jan Christiaan Hansche, from most to least accessible to tourists:

Open to the public: Brussels – Church of the Sablon | Leuven – Park Abbey | Modave Castle | Perk – Church of St Nicholas | Franc-Waret – Church of St Remigius

Not normally open to the public: Antwerp – Sacristy of the Church of St Charles Borromeo | Sint-Pieters-Rode – Horst Castle | Machelen – Beaulieu Castle | Aarschot – Schoonhoven Castle | Gent – Brouwershuis

Not accessible: Gent – Canfyn House (in storage) | Wesel, Germany (Fischmarkt) (destroyed) | Wesel, Germany (Zaudy) (destroyed) | Kleve, Germany (destroyed) | Leuven – Priory of the Vale of St Martin (destroyed, little known)

The ceilings of Jan Christiaan Hansche, from west to east:

Gent – Canfyn House (in storage) | Gent – Brouwershuis | Brussels – Church of the Sablon | Machelen – Beaulieu Castle | Antwerp – Sacristy of the Church of St Charles Borromeo | Perk – Church of St Nicholas | Leuven – Priory of the Vale of St Martin (destroyed, little known) | Leuven – Park Abbey | Sint-Pieters-Rode – Horst Castle | Aarschot – Schoonhoven Castle | Franc-Waret – Church of St Remigius | Modave Castle | Kleve, Germany (destroyed) | Wesel, Germany (Fischmarkt) (destroyed) | Wesel, Germany (Zaudy) (destroyed)