Hamilton Illustrated Auction Sale Catalogue - The Remaining Contents, 1919, M124/5/17: Page 04

The Remaining Contents of THE PALACE

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heiress to the duchy and estates, and in 1657 married William, a younger son of the Marquess of Douglas. On his wife’s petition in 1660 the restored Charles made him Duke of Hamilton for life, and thus he ranks as the third Duke. Thereupon he devoted himself to reviving the Hamilton fortunes by a prudent administration and improvement of the restored estates. Until that was done he took little part in public affairs, and it was later still before he was in a position to rebuild the Castle and rechristen it Hamilton House.
As the cypher W.A, for Duke William and Duchess Anne, appears repeatedly on the south front, it is clear that it dates before the former’s death in 1694, but how much earlier we can only conjecture from the character of the work. The richly decorated oak rooms, illustrated in this Catalogue, have much resemblance to those at Holyrood Palace, dating from 1672—9, but are a little later in character, so that the Holyrood joiners and carvers may well have passed on to Hamilton. The architect was certainly James Smith, who is called, in the Vitruvius Britannicus, “the most experienced architect in Scotland,” and whose drawing, representing the south front as it still is, was published in the Vitruvius Scoticus of William Adam. The oak rooms, now offered for sale, occupy most of the first floor of James Smith’s building, but here also are a set of rooms showing a somewhat different treatment and date. They form the Duchess’s suite and are all included in Lot 557. They were probably decorated under James Smith’s superintendence for the widowed Duchess Anne, who did not die till 1716. The swags of the boudoir mantelpiece and of the dressing-room overdoors are almost identical with those under two of the upper windows of the central pediment of the south front, while under the third are the crossed palm branches which also occur on the bedroom overmantel. There is strong resemblance also between the scroll and upright leafage of the friezes of various outside windows and the cornice friezes of the rooms, while the shell, which recurs persistently within doors, is also used in the niches that replace the central windows on the first floor at the ends of the wings. The details, therefore, are in favour of Smith as a designer, and some time in the reign of Queen Anne as a date, although they do not clearly contradict the tradition that William Adam, and not James Smith, was responsible for their decoration. If so, the date must be postponed till after the fifth Duke came of age in 1724. He it was who some years later commissioned William Adam, father of the more renowned Robert, to design a new north front, which, probably owing to this Duke’s death in 1743, was not then begun, nor was any material change made by his eighteenth century successors. But with the tenth Duke, who succeeded in 1819, came a revival of the scheme. His leanings were towards sumptuous building and art collecting, and, moreover, he had a very high opinion of his importance. “He firmly believed that as the descendant of the regent Arran he was the true heir to the throne of Scotland.” Once more the term Palace became appropriate, and the building must be made worthy of the dweller.“About 1825“ is the date given for the commencement of the operations. Although a Glasgow architect named Hamilton was employed, the position of designer in chief was no doubt assumed by the Duke himself, who took as his model the scheme prepared for his grandfather by William Adam. The leading features had been a great central portico leading into a vast and lofty hall. With some alterations these features were adopted by the tenth Duke, and are the