What he's made from will determine what paint to use.
I'd go for the best quality paint I could afford (eg. weathershield or sandtex appropriate to material) - no point using cheap quality paint that will just flake off over a season.

Choice of paint may be limited if he's resin/polymer-based

If you like him that way why do anything?

Thank you both, I think he's concrete, he weighs a ton. I've got some Weathershield for my fence, which might be worth a go. I do like him a bit worn, rather like an old statue Arbuthnot but he might erode away if I leave him. I shall have a think about it.

I like the weathered look in everything anything old and rusty finds it's way into my garden, but I think I agree with you it looks like it could get a little to worn, could you get a decent paint that is similar and carefully paint it but then try and distress it all over so it looks worn all over and not just on the nose area but when I say worn, only slightly do it.

I tried boot polish on a small concrete garden ornament that was in the garden when we moved here. It looked really good but it soon wore off again. You can get special paint for concrete but as its probably meant for floors you might have to buy a lot more than you want.

I got interested in this and found a good link
http://www.wikihow.com/Paint-Concrete-Statues

He's such a bright white underneath, that I suspect that he is actually plaster.

No he's definitely concrete, he's quite a grey colour underneath and as I said, he weighs a ton. He was quite sheltered on the wall of our old bungalow as the overhang from the roof was wide. Thanks for your input everyone. He's going to hung on a very exposed garden wall so I suppose I should protect him.

Ah! Just white by contrast, then. I will try to find out what some of the statuary suppliers at work use. Wish me luck--some of them are probably proprietary secrets! :/

if you like the look and would just like to stabilise any further deterioration, you could try just painting him in waterproof pva, it is white to start with but dries clear. but it may give a slightly glossy finish, this will also dull down with age

I hadn't thought of PVA Kev, sounds like a plan, thanks. That's very kind of you Tug, I look forward to any ideas from your colleagues.

He's had a face lift and he's in his new place on the garden wall. I used the same Cuprinol paint that you put on fences but got a tester pot which cost next to nothing. When I get cracking on the new garden I'll do a blog and post some pics of the before and after.

We have a weathered concrete statue of a maiden which got blown over last year. She was, sadly but not painfully I hope, decapitated. My husband somehow glued her together and used black shoe polish to hide the join. It matches the blackened areas elsewhere and she now looks great.

Poor maiden but glad she's been restored.

If its anything like the concrete mole I did with shoe polish it will need renewing quite often.