Hamilton Palace, like other great houses, always had a gallery where the family could take exercise in bad weather and where their portraits were displayed to impress visitors. According to Sir William Burrell, who saw round the Palace in 1758, the Gallery was 36m long by 6.7m wide and its contents were 'remarkable'. It ran the full length of the north wing, and the walls were hung with portraits by Mytens, Janssens, Van Dyck and Kneller. There were what Burrell took to be 'three large Titian's, exceedingly fine' and of course there was the most famous picture of the entire collection, Daniel in the Lions' Den by Rubens, 'extremely natural, great expression of the lions, some tame'. In the 10th Duke's time, fine furniture enhanced the wonderful array of visual art.

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