Explain some of the difficulties the modern viewer faces in attempting to analyse or interpret medieval works of art.

There are many factors which render medieval art difficult or even arguably impossible to interpret. Perhaps the most obvious being the passage of time itself, leading to art’s alteration through either natural causes such as damage or erosion, or as a result of man posing as interferer for perhaps aesthetic or political motives. The great complexity of works in a seemingly simple era intrigues many art historians today and further complicates the analysis of medieval works. 

The little information that is provided is often incomplete, which influences the man of the modern era greatly. Other than the many critic’s interpretations that have been made over the years about medieval artwork, the accounts written by people at the time, though giving us insight, are often the accounts of the historically victorious and nearly always the biased. The philosopher Walter Benjamin claimed that "History is written by the successors" This complicates the process of the modern viewer being able to make a definite conclusion about medieval artwork, its origins and reasoning. The term “viewer” is in itself ambiguous, as interpretations alone will vary depending on whether one sees the observer as an intellectual scholar, a researcher in medieval art or merely as a casual observer, a view put forward by art historian and scholar Veronika Secules. Today, one cannot consolidate the artists or indeed the viewers of the time. However, the lack of knowledge one has of medieval art, whilst not making it easier, can provide more room for varied and unusual analysis, potentially leading to extrememly interesting and unusual interpretations.