Depite being quite unstable, this bust of the Roman Emperor Caligula is not that bad looking. Compared to most of the other Julio-Claudians, that is.
Aw, I’ve already been beaten to Nefertiti and Franz Liszt. With Nefertiti and everyone else who lived and died before the advent of photography, it’s difficult to know if they really looked as good as their portraits or if the artists were flattering them. But although there are no photos of Liszt as a young man, we have ample photographic evidence that he was a “foxy grandpa”. (Especially in that little black dress he took to wearing late in life. 
)
Thinking of Franz Liszt, he was briefly involved with the notorious Lola Montez. The famous portrait comissioned by King Ludwig I shows her to be a real hottie, although she doesn’t look all that great in photos taken just a few years later. But in her prime she was considered to be as psycho as she was sexy, so it may be that she just didn’t age well.
Ludwig I himself looked uncannily like Gary Oldman. His grandson, Ludwig II, was in his time reputed to be the best looking man in Europe. Or at least the best looking royal man in Europe. This is perhaps comparable to being the prettiest gal in the whole trailer park, but he really did have a pretty dashing appearance before he got too crazy and fat (and starting shooting out the screen of his Stereopticon). A little nervous and overbred-looking to be sure, but considering how overbred he actually was it’s amazing he didn’t have flippers or something.
The best looking royal woman in Europe at that time was said to be Ludwig II’s cousin Elisabeth, the Empress of Austria. The super-long hair doesn’t really do it for me, nor do the huge dresses, but somewhere underneath all that was a total hottie!
Whoever Sophia Loren is supposed to be in this picture:
http://silverscreensirens.com/galleries/loren3.htm
(It’s Dulcinea from “Man of La Mancha,” which is fictional, but I don’t care in the slightest).
Hey, if you can pick Dulcinea, I choose Satan.
Ranier III
Rugged good looks and the dimpled chin, yum!
I’ve already been beaten to Nefertiti, and Eva Peron (I love Annie’s pic, but I like this one even more), and rumour has it that Cleopatra was ugly, so…
Aphrodite didn’t proclaim her to be “the most beautiful woman in the world” for nothing, you know.
Helen of Troy
One night with a woman so beautiful a ten year war was fought over her…
Acknowlegement: kung fu lola posted the Helen link first.
(next time I will follow ALL the links before I post)
Well, I wouldn’t call it a crush, exactly, but I’ve had a bit of a preoccupation with Louis XIV since I was a teenager. Aside from the power & wealth, he was reputed to be a fairly handsome man in his youth (though many remarked that his smallpox scars ruined the effect), and to have the sexiest legs in the kingdom. He was also a meticulously clean person, a very unusual thing for those times. And a girl could receive quite the bump up the social ladder by having a roll in the royal hay…
I think this self-portrait of Albrecht Durer would quicken any girl’s pulse rate. At least it does that to me.
I’ve had a thing for Christopher Marlowe for a long time: http://www.cantweb.co.uk/books/albion/books/marlowe-search.jpg
How about Antinoüs, lover of Emperor Hadrian, who killed himself at age 21 to avoid losing his looks? Drama queen, but very hot, apparently (the heartbroken emperor named a city after him).
Jeez, King Alexsander looks JUST LIKE an ex-boyfriend of mine.
Is it just me, or does she bear a strong resemblance to Vivien Leigh?
Elisabeth of Austria-I’d kill to be able to recreate the gold stars gown.
I have thought the tailor in the painting on the main page of http://tudor-portraits.com was a hottie from the first time I saw it. Complete and utter Elizabethan fox. I think it’s the beard. Yeah, definitely the beard.
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester – The Queen’s lover hottie.
The Ambassadors by Holbein The man on the right. There’s something about the way he gazes out of the portrait.
The Conversion of St. Paul – Paul never looked better. Even if he has just been buffeted fiercely.
Meanwhile, Count Philip – really freakin’ creepy. His hat’s cool, though.
Entirely too much of my time is spent looking for HOTT Elizabethan guys under the guise costume research. ¡Qué lástima! I do wish, however, that somebody would make “I love the 1580s!” so that I could sit in front of the TV and say, “Robert Dudley – what a hunk!”