Please ID this old bronze sculpture

Oops.... I am flattered by the trust you place in me, but I will have to disappoint you on most of those. Here is my 2 cents worth:
It looks early 20th century to me. The subject is a 17th century gentleman, maybe an artist with that beret? Certainly not a cavalier, who would wear an elegant hat, so the object his hand is resting on may not be a sword hilt.
The bags could contain a sketchbook, pencils, brushes, paint. The coal to keep warm while sketching outside? In the 17th century artists did most of their painting inside, but they would go outside to sketch landscapes which would serve as an inspiration for etchings and paintings.
Origin guesstimate France or the Low Countries. Maybe Germany.
The material is impossible for me to ascertain, especially under all those layers.

What worries me is the fence/support at the back. At first glance it looks like he is leaning against a fence, but to me it looks like a support that has been added later. If so, that suggests that there was a weakness in the metal.

It certainly looks like over the years they kept applying layers, and the detail has suffered.

 

Instead I must say that your answer meets my expectations, as always, a very valuable help and a very useful answer for my description. Thanks a lot!

 

Anytime, Gian.

 

the color and the original material can be determined from the area under the base, it seems to me that it is bronze, I would be inclined to place it at the turn of the late 19th century and early 20th century. Very nice, even if painted.