Claude Duval legend, including claims of alchemy, gambling, and much womanising. He is reported to haunt the Holt Hotel along the A4260 (Oxford Road) in Oxfordshire, a hotel where he spent many nights when it was a small coaching inn. Recent historians have reappraised the legacy of Duval. James Sharpe in "Dick Turpin" regarded Duval as the most significant figure in the shaping of the highwayman myth. John and Philip Sugden's "The Thief of Hearts" reconstructs what is known of the historical Duval, using much fresh evidence, and shows that the traditions about the Frenchman were used by such literary luminaries as
Robbert Duval (1639–1732) Robbert Duval (1639–1732) Robbert Duval (21 September 1639, The Hague – 22 January 1732, The Hague), was a Dutch Golden Age painter who lived well into the 18th century. According to the RKD he learned to paint from Nicolaes Willingh and became his assistant in Berlin in 1667. He left Berlin to make a trip to Rome in 1668, where he joined the Bentvueghels with the nickname "Fortuyn". He is known for painting portrait and historical allegories, of which none survive today. According to Houbraken he left Rome for Padua in 1677 with Johannes Glauber and his brother. He probably