Charlatan on the Market by Jan Steen is one of five paintings recovered from a 2002 theft. It has a damaged frame. (Fred Ernst/Associated Press)Charlatan on the Market by Jan Steen is one of five paintings recovered from a 2002 theft. It has a damaged frame. (Fred Ernst/Associated Press)

Dutch police have recovered five paintings stolen in 2002 after a raid on a businessman's house in the southern town of Den Bosch last weekend.

The paintings, including Dutch painter Jan Steen's Charlatan on the Market, were stolen from the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam.

All five were "peasant paintings" by masters such as Cornelis Bega, Adriaan van Ostade and Cornelis Dusart from the 17th century, considered a golden age of Dutch painting.

The paintings were insured for $4.6 million Cdn, but a museum spokesman said their true worth was "impossible to express."

The museum plans to display the stolen paintings from Sept. 17 to 28 before restoring the works. Three works show damage to the frames, the museum said in a statement.

Police have arrested three people in connection with the thefts.

With files from the Associated Press