ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the protean nature of Alice Meynell's interventions in contemporary art discourse, incorporating women artists, the Royal Academy and Pre-Raphaelitism. The art and literary criticism written by Meynell for the Pen, the Weekly Register and Merry England is masked by an array of anonymous and pseudonymous identities that are difficult to unravel. An inheritance from Meynell's father in 1881 allowed them to build a house for what would become a family of nine; however, this exhausted their funds and a daughter, Viola Meynell, revealed that family finances were consistently 'precarious in the extreme'. The exact nature of sibling relationship requires examination; it appears perhaps to have been commensal rather than mutual with Butler reaping the benefits of having her own personal press agent. The sisters' commentary extended to decisions regarding exhibitions segregated according to gender.
