Now, Instagram is filled with photos of people who have spent too long trying to look their best.
But pride in one’s appearance, including when such preening gets a bit too much, is definitely not just a modern phenomenon – as one popular Instagram account reveals.
Hot Victorians, which was set up by US-based British man Aaron Radford-Wattley six years ago, has more than 140,000 followers who delight in pictures of attractive men of the past.
The single image that testifies to the page’s explosion in popularity is that of ‘unbelievably classically handsome’ Illinois doctor Arthur Leslie Shidler, which has attracted nearly 85,000 likes and hundreds of adoring comments.
Other photos show strutting gymnasts, a mystery couple in a clinch and hirsute sailor.
Mr Radford-Wattley, who lives in the US, told MailOnline: ‘I set it up in the summer of 2019 just on a whim. I thought it would be funny.
‘I thought there must be an account already but there wasn’t so I thought I would create one myself. It snowballed from there.’
The 40-year-old’s aim was to divert the ‘male gaze’ away from women and onto men, hence why Victorian ladies are few and far between on his account.
He sources his photos from user submissions, online archives and his personal collection.
His images have proved so popular that he was approached by publisher Quercus to write a book.
Hot Victorians: Meet Your Dream Man From the Past, it is set to be released later this year.
Taken in 1883, this picture shows doctor Arthur Leslie Shidler. Born in Lakeville, Indiana, in 1860, he practiced in Illinois. The medic died aged just 38 or 39 in 1899. Mr Radford-Wattley said the image is one of his two all-time favourite pictures he has posted on his Instagram account. Although some have claimed the image is AI-generated, he insists it isn’t. ‘He is just unbelievably classical handsome,’ he said. One commenter agreed, saying: ‘Hot damn!’
This image, which received more than 4,000 likes on Instagram, allegedly shows members of the St Petersburg Bodybuilders Club. It’s the men on either end that stand out with their fearlessly proud poses. One commenter said on Instagram: ‘The one on the far left is giving the one on the far right a run for his money…& reputation’
A mystery man and woman in a clinch back in the early 1890s, when public romantic acts would have been considered scandalous. Mr Radford-Wattley said: ‘I love how we view our Victorian ancestors as these stiff and prudish figures, but behind closed doors and back alleys… my, my!
This Royal Navy sailor posed for a photograph in his straw hat more than a century ago, either during the reign of King Edward VII or the final years of his mother, Queen Victoria
This working man standing at an anvil with hammer in hand as he shapes a horseshoe was snapped by American photographer Summer A. Smith in 1859 or 1860
This ‘hot felon’ was Norwegian convict Gortz Birger Adolfsson Hinderfors. He was a repeat offender, having been arrested several times for theft and fraud. This mugshot is from 1908. He was described as being 6ft tall, with blonde hair, blue eyes and multiple scars on his face
This striking man was photographed with a snake on the Caribbean island of Martinique in around 1900. The serpent looks as though it was killed before being pictured
There’s nothing like a long, hot shower. This is what this man is seen enjoying in an ingenious ‘rib cage’ shower, also known as a needle bath. It was designed in the 1880s and remained popular into the early 1900s. The photo was taken at the Royal Baths in Grand Central Hall, Harrogate, North Yorkshire
Described as a ‘gorgeous hunk of vintage beefcake’ by Mr Radford-Wattley on his Hot Victorians account, this was wrestler Karl Pospischil, from Bohemia in what is now the Czech Republic. The photo was taken in 1912. Popischil was just 5ft 8in but weighed a hefty 216lb (around 15.5stone)
This photo of a strapping lifeguard was taken on Brighton Beach in New York in 1901. One commenter noted that he had ‘Freddie Mercury’ vibes, while another joked: ‘Well, hello sailor’
This stylish man’s photo was taken at the turn of the 20th century. It is from a collection of photos by William Edward Burghardt Du Bois. He prepared albums of photos of African Americans in Georgia that were exhibited in Paris in 1900
This ‘handsome’ cowboy featured on a postcard in the early 1900s. More than a century on, he proved popular online
This dashing man was English writer and scientist Edward Heron Allen. The polymath was photographed in the late 1880s. He died in 1943. He is particularly none for translating the works of Omar Khayyam, an Iranian polymath who lived in the 11th and 12th centuries
A Turkmen rider photographed in the early 1900s. Turkmen are native to Central Asia and largely live in what is now Turkmenistan, as well as regions of Iran and north-western Afghanistan
This photo of stylish Japanese civil rights activist and dentist Oda Nobuyoshi proved popular when it was posted in June 2020. His intense stair and disheveled appearance is what stands out. Mr Radford-Wattley said the image is another favourite of his. ‘He’s just very hipstery and cool looking,’ he said
Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist and diplomat. He was part of the team that made the first crossing of the interior of Greenland in 1888. His photo received more than 10,000 likes on Instagram
A dashing French waiter pictured in the 1890s outside the Paris cafe where he worked. One commenter joked: ‘I’d empty my pockets in his cafe until he noticed me’
