Merkel's Rhombus

Our chancellor likes to form a rhombus with her hands, which I consider a gesture of concentration. Until two weeks ago, the nation thought that her habit had to do with her education. As a physicist, she took courses in mathematics, aka geometry, during her studies.

Angela's rhombus (©dpa).

I thought so too until two weeks ago, when the Badische Zeitung published a picture showing St. John the Apostle in a painting in Freiburg's Augustinermuseum holding his hands like Angela. Some BZ readers criticized the resemblance as pure coincidence, but loyal readers of my blog know Merkel was in Freiburg in December 2010. Why shouldn't she have visited the museum and copied St. John's posture?

A 1540 painting in Freiburg's Augustinermuseum showing St. John's ordeal.
The apostle is standing in a kettle of boiling oil (©BZ).

However, she visited the Münster church in Freiburg with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, guided in person by Robert Zollitsch, the archbishop. So Angela indeed saw Hans Baldung's painting of St. Mary above the high altar, a picture the BZ published today.

Painting by Hans Baldung: God the Father and Christ - what some people consider
a daring pose with naked legs - jointly crown Mary as Queen of Heaven (©Wikipedia).

Here is the evidence: Angela, daughter of a Protestant minister, in the tradition of Martin Luther* who adored the Mother of God, adopted St. Mary's gesture.
*To be precise: in his sermons, Luther did not adore Mary as Queen of Heaven but as an example of humility and purity.

**