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) left Padua with them for Venice, where he stayed until 1681. In 1682 he returned to the Hague, where he helped set up the Royal Academy of Art (The Hague) with Willem Doudijns, Theodor van der Schuer, and Daniel Mijtens the Younger. In the same year he became court painter to William III of England and worked at Het Loo Palace and Hampton Court. He lived to a great age. 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