This painting of Matsya avatara, as one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu, belongs to a group of three Tirupati souvenir paintings. He is depicted under a canopy of flowers and garlands. On the reverse of this painting is a wooden 'ther' (chariot) with an icon of Vishnu. The faces of the deities in this series are blue complexioned with white highlights and the colours red, blue green, yellow and pink have been used liberally.The style, colours and decorative features suggest that they were made for Vaishnava (Vishu devotees) patrons who may have visited Tirupati temple and were carrying back these paintings as a memento of their pilgrimage.
