From the museum website
Museum Villa Vauban, the municipal art museum in the city of Luxembourg, owns an impressive collection of Dutch Masters. As the museum is currently closed while undergoing renovations, the Frans Hals Museum was given the opportunity of making a selection from the collection. Two key groups were chosen from the collection, from the estate of the wealthy banker Jean-Pierre Pescatore (1793-1855): Dutch Masters from the 17th and the 19th centuries.
Most of the collection of 17th-century masters was purchased at an auction of the collection of Baron Van Nagell van Ampsen, Minister of State, in 1851 in The Hague. Below are works by Philips Wouwerman, Jan de Bray and Adriaen van de Velde.
The 19th-century paintings come originally from the collection of King Willem II which, after his death, was auctioned at the insistence of his creditors in 1850. Willem II had acquired the works at exhibitions of ‘Living Masters’, which were regularly held in Amsterdam and Haarlem. Almost all the paintings were inspired by the styles of the Golden Age, which at the time were greatly admired by artists and collectors.
From this collection, Pescatore acquired pieces like the marvellous river landscape by Barend Koekkoek and a winter landscape by Andreas Schelfhout. He also bought an important painting by Jan Steen at the same auction.
In total, there are 31 Dutch Masters on display: temporarily back in their home country.