Of course, no one sees 'hints of homosexuality' when the image is of a elderly man. Yet I wonder if the same images depicted a young, naked Jerome depicted literally following a naked Jesus? Here is a story from Christian antiquity which might serve as a guide:
A noteworthy example (of a contemporary paranoia against the 'nudus nudum' slogan) is the case of the four Franciscan friars arrested (in Venice) for infraction of the antisodomy law in 1420. What had the friars done to call down such a charge upon themselves? In what I assume was emulation of their founder and his literal enactment of Jerome's famous ascetic adage "Naked to follow the naked Christ" (nudus nudum Christum sequi), they had marched naked through the streets of the city, carrying a large cross and followed by a large crowd. After due judicial inquiry into the matter, the friars were eventually exonerated; however, to the superiors of these friars a stern warning was issued by the Council, which was "greatly displeased" by this naked procession: the unclothed gang of four, though acquitted, was nonetheless to be given some form of in-house punishment as an object lesson to them and their fellow Franciscans. [Franco Mormando, The Preacher's Demons p.161]
There is always going to be something about seeing two naked men or a group of naked men together which leads to the assumption of homosexuality. Another, more recent, example:
