After winning the battle of Jena and entering Berlin Napoleon visited the grave of Frederick the Great, and reportedly said "Gentlemen, if this man were still alive I would not be here". This is an example of a contemporary who he admired.

Source: Koch, H. W. (1978). A History of Prussia.

In Andrew Roberts' biography of Napoleon he writes that after moving to a residence in Tuileries in 1800, he gathered statues of some of his heroes. These included Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hannibal, Scipio, Cicero, Cato, Frederick the Great, George Washington, the Marquis de Dampierre, and the Duke of Marlborough.

I seem to remember Napoleon writing a lot about Caesar in particular.

Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar are the two that come to mind. I believe there were more, but I know those two were the big ones.

Source: Napoleon by Andrew Roberts

Can anyone speak to the veracity of claims that Napoleon read THE ART OF WAR and used Sun Tzu's tactics to great effect in Europe?

Here's a very telling quote that I first read in a Total War game:

"Read over and over again the campaigns of Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar, Gustavus, Turenne, Eugene and Frederic. … This is the only way to become a great general and master the secrets of the art of war. …” – Napoleon Quotes from “Military Maxims of Napoleon”