This painting was first exhibited in 1901 at the Royal Academy, and in 1902 at Leighton House in an exhibition entitled Such Stuff as Dreams are made of (a loose quotation from Shakespeare's The Tempest)

When first displayed, there was much debate as to the meaning of the allegory. An article in the 1902 Magazine of Art offered this interpretation: “A mighty princess, clothed in orange garments, is pictured for us so closely guarded by jealous attendants as to be shut out altogether from the outside world. No harsh breath from the common air may touch the lady's cheek. The orphan and the widow are turned from her gates in order that she may not look upon the face of sorrow. Not willingly hard or callous is this prisoner of a luxurious place, only oblivious from force of circumstances. ... The Deceitfulness of Riches is a lay sermon on the tyranny of soft environment and on the unwitting cruelty which lurks in ignorance”

Described by critics as a “Pre-Raphaelite revivalist”, Fortescue-Brickdale was famous for her meticulous techniques and luminous colors. Oxford professor Henry Scott Holland commented on a watercolors exhibition by the artist: “Color? The room glows with it, as if it were flung out of live jewels. The flaming crimsons, the crisp greens, the sheen of rose, speak and sing out of their frames; and you find yourself laughing aloud unawares, for sheer delight, in response. The pictures recall the small gems that Rossetti painted ... They are vivid and delicate like young Millais' Ferdinand”