Giovanni Francesco Caroto, a 16th-century Italian painter, had executed for a monastery a painting portraying Jesus kneeling before his mother. A priest criticised the painting, saying that Jesus should have been kneeling on both knees to show true reverence to her. By way of reply, Caroto asked him to kneel down and stand up again. This the priest did, grudgingly. Caroto then said, "Did you observe that you lowered your right knee to the ground first as you knelt and raised your left leg first as you rose? This Jesus of mine is either coming to his knees or, having knelt a while, is in the process of rising."
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A priest objected to Caroto's figures on the grounds that he made them too lascivious. "If painted figures move you so," retorted the artist, "how are you to be trusted with living flesh and blood?"
喬瓦尼．弗朗切斯科．卡羅托是十六世紀義大利畫家。他為一修道院畫油畫，畫中的耶穌跪在母親跟前。一個教士批評這幅畫說，耶穌應雙膝着地，以示對母親真誠尊敬。卡羅托的回答，是先請那教士跪下，再站起來。那教士勉為其難，做了這兩個動作。卡羅托說：「你有沒有留意，下跪時，先以右膝着地；站起時，則先提起左腳？我筆下這位耶穌，可以說是正在下跪，也可以說是跪了一會兒之後，正在站起來。」
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一個教士不滿卡羅托所畫人像，認為畫得太過淫蕩。卡羅托反唇相譏說：「假如畫中人都令你這樣動情，活生生的人還能託付給你嗎？」