Anatomy is an ancient science, Greek in origin in the Western world, though the evidence of human sacrifice and body conservation suggests that in some elementary sense it was known in primitive societies elsewhere. It was – with art, architecture, philosophy and literature – revived in the Renaissance, then as much the province of the painter and the sculptor as the surgeon, and so it remained into the 20th century (the Royal Academy of Art in Piccadilly still appoints a Professor of Anatomy). There is thus some arguable foundation for Gunther von Hagens' claim that his work as an anatomist is both art and science, both aesthetic and educational in purpose.