Antique Landscape Painting on 14”x19” Board Signed “V. A. Hilt” - Defects

Found at the estate sale of a couple who enjoyed collecting fine art, this marvelous but unfortunately damaged antique 13.5” x 18.5” unframed oil painting on British gray paperboard shows a quiet river or lake surrounded by trees and with mountains in the background. Interest is added to to this tranquil scene by a mysterious cloaked figure on a country road and a distant sailboat on the water. This painting is signed by the artist in the lower right corner. I make out the signature to be “V. A. Hilt” and would guess the painting to show a European scene. The second photo shows a 12” ruler for scale. Based on the type of paperboard I would guess this painting to be well over 100 years old. Unfortunately time has not been kind to it. It has thumbtack holes in the upper corners and damaged lower corners (see photos). The edges of board are chipped and the paint surface is damaged in places (see photos). As is unfortunately all too often the case at estate sales, I wasn't able to learn anything about the artist or about the age and history of this lovely painting, which a label on the back shows to be on a type of paperboard manufactured by an established London company: Winsor & Newton Student’s Academy Board Prepared for Oil Painting. This product was probably manufactured starting around 1882. It’s also described as millboard and was definitely available by 1895. Winsor & Newton also offered a number of other artist’s board and academy board products for painters in the late 1800’s but then developed canvas board products that gradually supplanted them. The website of the National Portrait Gallery in London lists examples of numerous kinds showing their labels. Several photos show details of this painting as viewed through a 10X loupe. I find it interesting that the artist clearly paid considerable attention to certain details.