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This is a glowing article in a publication that Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's tribute to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

The effect, he says, is ""extremely poor".

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“They removed my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and should be criticized. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to feature on the cover of Time and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has extended to Trump’s golf clubs – previously, the publication requested to remove fake issues exhibited in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was captured by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

The perspective highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the problematic part pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement could be a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the region.

At the same time, a defence of Trump's image has come from unusual quarters: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to denounce the "damaging" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people obsessed with malice and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", she posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the same publication used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the case is self-damaging for Time", she added.

The response to his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power according to an imaging expert, a media professional.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look commanding. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their grandeur and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Even though the article's title pairs nicely with his facial expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the individual in question."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and although all of the artistic aspects of the image are quite powerful, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The Guardian reached out to the periodical for comment.