One of the latest paintings made by Paulus Potter belonged to the Valerius Röver collection, which was considered an important private collection in the Netherlands in the eighteenth century. It consisted of 64 works of the highest quality.

In 1750, after more than two years of secret negotiations, Landgrave Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Kassel was able to acquire the Valerius Röver collection for his picture gallery. Some of the masterpieces are still among the highlights of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister today.

The Potter painting, however, was stolen during the Napoleonic occupation in 1813 and subsequently found its way into various private collections. In 1998, it was acquired by Hermann Röchling, who later donated it to the Fontana Foundation.

With the support of the Kulturstiftung der Länder, the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung and the Museumsverein Kassel, the painting The Watermill by Paulus Potter was reacquired. On the occasion of the reacquisition, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister is showing the cabinet exhibition Potter, Paulus Potter! A masterpiece returns.