As illustrated here, you can clone the repository, check out the branch with the desired tag and use maven to build the release JARs. See also Migration from JFreeChart 1.0.x
$ git clone https://github.com/jfree/jfreechart.git jfreechart
$ pushd jfreechart
$ git fetch --tags
$ git tag --list
…
v1.5.3
$ git checkout v1.5.3
Note: switching to 'v1.5.3'.
…
$ mvn -P release package
…
[INFO] BUILD SUCCESS
…
$ ls -1 target/jfreechart-1.5.3*
target/jfreechart-1.5.3-javadoc.jar
target/jfreechart-1.5.3-sources.jar
target/jfreechart-1.5.3.jar
Alternatively, download the desired JARs directly from the corresponding mvnrepository directory:
v1.5.2: mvnrepository > directory.
v1.5.3: mvnrepository > directory.
v1.5.4: mvnrepository > directory.