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The Berlin merchant Julius Freund was a well-known Jewish collector and patron of art. Under the pressure of the National Socialist dictatorship, in 1939 he emigrated to London with his family. Freund had already moved his art collection to Switzerland in 1933. After his death in 1941, facing financial troubles resulting from their emigration, his wife and daughter were forced to sell the works. In March 1942, 351 lots were put up for auction at the Fischer gallery in Lucerne, including this watercolour by Jakob Philipp Hackert, depicting the pool known as the Venus Pond, at the Tiergarten park in Berlin. At the auction in Lucerne, Hans Posse acquired 30 individual works and portfolios for the “Linz Special Commission”. As this sale was the result of Nazi persecution, in 2010 the works in the Freund collection were restored to his heirs, following which they were acquired for the Kupferstich-Kabinett.