…Marc Michael Epstein calls attention to a problem in art history scholarship that he names “interpretive paralysis.” According to Epstein, interpretive paralysis occurs when there is a lack of information about a work of art, such as the patron’s identity, the artist’s identity, or the date when the art was created. When there is a lack of information, Epstein contends that many art historians cannot “engage imaginatively” with the selection of iconography or what it meant for the original audience; this is “interpretive paralysis.” Epstein states that many scholars of illuminated Haggadot have been victims of interpretive paralysis, and that their work is often disappointing.
Maria K. Chianello, “From Oppression to Redemption: A Reexamination of Illuminated Sephardic Haggadot in Thirteenth and Fourteenth-Century Spain” (BA thesis, University of Oregon, 2012), 59.