The Bendigo Art Gallery says patron numbers for its Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits exhibition have exceeded expectations.
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The gallery had been hoping to get about 45,000 people through the show since it opened in March, but the gallery's marketing and audience engagement officer Mark Orlandi said the numbers have "been better than that".
"We were definitely getting a lot of people coming from out of town," Mr Orlandi said. "They were predominantly from Melbourne but you could see the New South Wales people coming too.
"I think that's the effect of the Qantas flights, which is nice to see that it's working for us. There have also been people from Adelaide and Brisbane coming through here."
There were more than 2000 people through the door on July 6, with similar figures across the final weekend. While the final numbers will not be released for a few weeks, Mr Orlandi said the show has been a success for the region.
"The retailers really support us as well which is lovely," he said. "A lot of feedback that I get online is that we don't only love to see your exhibitions, but that we love to come and see Bendigo."
The 200 portraits of the British royal family were brought to Bendigo from the National Portrait Gallery in London.
"They've never toured it before," curator Tansy Curtin said. "To bring these works, which don't leave the UK, to an Australian audience was really important."
Ms Curtin said the high patronage numbers has been rewarding for the gallery.
"You do invest yourself a lot into these exhibitions and to have people enjoy it is what it's all about," she said.
"Bringing people in, bringing people to the region, having them engage, and just have a wonderful time is exactly what we wanted to do."
"It's always a bit nerve wracking because you do take some risks when you do bring over these big international exhibitions.
"I think we've taken some risks but they have really proven themselves over the last 10 years or so. This has been another great one."
The Bendigo Art Gallery's next exhibition will be Balenciaga: Shaping Fashion. The show, organised by the Victoria and Albert Museum, will start on August 17.
"It will be a nice counterpoint to this," Ms Curtin said. "It's a completely different audience, a completely different subject matter but it will engage a whole gamut of people."
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