It was commissioned by chancellor Viglius van Aytta for the Choir of St Bavo's Cathedral in Ghent on the occasion of the celebration of the twenty-third chapter of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was presided over by Philip II of Spain as grandmaster.

While his father, Charles V, was compared to the more warlike biblical king David, Philip was viewed as the more temperate Solomon, overlooking his severe idolatry and the killing his half-brother Adonijah,[3] in hopes that he would see the prudence in exercising a degree of religious toleration.

In his impassioned speech for a peaceful reconciliation with Protestantism before the English Parliament in 1534, the reform-minded Catholic bishop Reginald Pole said that the appeasing of controversies of religion in Christianity is not appointed to this emperor, but to his son.

[4] After a devastating fire at the Sint Janskerk in the neighboring Gouda in 1552, Philip was one of the first to donate a stained glass window towards the rebuilding, as he had done at St Bavo's upon the occasion of his father's abdication.

In the painting, Solomon, the ruler of the Kingdom of Israel, is represented with Philip II's features: black hair, a beard, a hanging lip and a pronounced chin.

In a subtle allegory, as his first wife Mary I of England, she represents the Low Countries, therefore belonging to the crown of Spain, which place their riches at the king's disposal in exchange for the latter's just and wise rule.

The Latin text from above to below on the frame of the painting emphasises the parallel between Philip II and the biblical king, announcing the use of the Solomonic model in El Escorial: "COLLE SIONA SOLI VENIENS NICAULO SABÆI, SPEM SUPER ET FAMAM GRANDIA MIROR AIT," "ALTER ITEM SALOMON, PIA REGUM GEMMA PHILIPPUS, UT FORIS HIC SOPHIÆ MIRA THEATRA DEDIT."

[13] Belgian art historian Alphonse-Jules Wauters said: "Were we to judge this artist solely from his painting in St. Bavon, Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (1559), we should form but an indifferent idea of his talent.