Thousands of people have attended an exhibition with a modern take on the Brontes.

Since September, The Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth has seen a surge in the number of visitors who have taken a modern artistic look at the village's famous literary family.

Former Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker's exhibition, Brontean Abstracts, attracted a different audience to the museum's usual visitors, said director Alan Bentley.

The exhibition, which closed on Sunday, showed images of Bronte artefacts taken with electron microscope imaging technology.

Mr Bentley said: "It's been very successful. As it's a modern exhibition, it has brought in younger people and aspiring artists who wouldn't normally come here for that. We aren't used to Cornelia's modern artist perspective so it has been very interesting and made us look at our collections from a completely different point of view.

"I'm pleased the museum's tradition of inspiring people through the works of the Brontes has continued."

Cornelia said: "By capturing images of the Bronte relics through a microscope I have been using the tools of science to try to understand the power of the myth. Whether it is a split end of Anne's hair, pinholes made by Charlotte or the tines of a comb burnt by Emily, they are abstractions made by them, unconsciously."

Leading up to the opening, she spent a year working with the museum to develop her own interpretations. She undertook extensive research, exploring the museum's collection, viewing original manuscripts in the British Library and working with the University of Bradford to analyse samples of Bronte hair.

For 41 years the Bronte family lived in the building that is now the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

The museum aims to attract international artists, authors and film-makers to interpret the lives of the Brontes in new ways to visitors.

Andrew McCarthy. Parsonage deputy director, said: "Exhibiting work by such a prominent artist has been very exciting and an historic opportunity for the museum.

"The problem with monuments is they can become caricatures and Brontean Abstracts has challenged some of our preconceptions and given us a new perspective."

e-mail: ben.barnett@bradford.newsquest.co.uk