Sha’arei Hesed is a neighbourhood in central Jerusalem. Minton’s drawing was made in connection with his illustrations for Woodrow Wyatt’s article The Jews at Home, published in Tribune Magazine in 1951.

Martyn Goff, who probably acquired the drawing directly from Minton, was a friend of the artist from this period (see Frances Spalding Dance till the Stars come down 1991 p. 123). Goff was a bookseller and author and the man most responsible for establishing the Booker Literary Prize.