Taken together, they chronicle the shifting lenses through which Spain’s Catholics saw the country’s Jewish population between 1285 and 1492. As the title suggests, the show also explores how, as time went on, Catholic Spain propagated the otherness of its Jewish inhabitants as a means to affirm, forge and galvanise a Christian identity. “The relationship between the Christian and Jewish communities in the middle ages is one of the key themes in the history of our country,” said Miguel Falomir, director of the Prado. “If ever there was an exhibition that showed how vividly and eloquently images can be used, then this is it.”