History

The Medal for Art and Science was established by Emperor Ferdinand I on February 24, 1849. Originally, the medal was non-wearable, however a wearable medal was proposed by Paul Gautsch Freiherr von Frankenthurn. This decoration was only to be awarded for very special achievements. Lesser achievements would be awarded with the smaller non-wearable medal with the inscription “Viribus Unitis” and the original medal would be discontinued.

Between 1887 -1916, this decoration was awrded to 95 Austro-Hungarian subjects and 25 to foreigners, including four women. The final awards made in 1916 were postponed until after the war when sufficient materials were available.

These decorations were distributed amongst different ‘groups’ of artists. This includes fifteen painters, eleven authors, eight composers and three sculptors in the ‘artist group’ with twenty-five historians, and only one philosopher, one engineer, one theologians and meteorologist.

The decoration was designed by Josef Tautenhayn (1837-1911) and is composed of gold, with a partially black enamelled wreath around the outside. The reverse has the inscription “Literis et Artibus” surrounded by a laurel wreath. It is surmounted by a royal crown with pendilia. It was worn on a red ribbon, and worn by women on the left breast.

This decoration was manufactured by C.F Rothe & Neffe.