Blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in Sheffield attracts record-breaking 100,000 visitors

Leonardo da Vinci: A Life in Drawing, featuring 12 original drawings by the Italian master, ran at Sheffield’s Millennium Gallery from February 1 to May 6 this year.

Museums Sheffield, which runs the venue, today announced the numbers were in and the free show was officially the most popular it had ever staged.

“Wow, we’ve recorded our highest visitor numbers ever - over 100,000 came to see Leonardo da Vinci’s 12 remarkable drawings at the Millennium Gallery!” it tweeted.

“It was fantastic to see crowds of visitors engrossed in the works and also putting pencil to paper in our drawing activities.”

The numbers mean more than a thousand people on average poured in each day to see the show, which was accompanied by a series of talks.

The exhibition, at which visitors were encouraged to take inspiration from the legendary artist and try their hand at drawing, was one of 12 similar shows across the country featuring drawings by da Vinci from the Royal Collection.

Among the works featured in Sheffield was The Head of St Philip, a study for the famous painting the Last Supper.

More than 200 of the great man’s works are due to go on display at The Queens Gallery, in Buckingham Palace, from May 24 to October 13, as commemorations marking the 500th anniversary of his death continue.

The main da Vinci exhibition in Sheffield may have closed, but visitors still have until next Sunday, May 26, to catch the Millennium Gallery’s companion show, The Vehicle of Nature.

The hit exhibition by Universal Everything is a modern-day response to the Renaissance great’s work, using the latest technology and big data to create a digital river, which swirls and eddies across the gallery space.

The Millennium Gallery and Weston Park Museum will be closed tomorrow, Monday, May 20, for staff training, but will be open again as usual from Tuesday.