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It is a glowing article in a magazine that Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The magazine's cover photo, he stated, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's paean to Donald Trump's part in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was presented alongside a photograph of the president captured from underneath while the sun shining from the back.

The result, Trump claims, is "super bad".

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

“They removed my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that looked like a suspended coronet, but an extremely small one. Quite bizarre! I always disliked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a extremely poor picture, and deserves to be called out. Why did they do this, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to appear on the cover of Time and did so four times last year. The preoccupation has extended to the president's resorts – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fabricated front pages on display at some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was taken by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom seized, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the offending area obscured.

{The hostages from Israel in Gaza have been liberated under the first phase of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal may become a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a pivotal moment for the region.

At the same time, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by an unexpected source: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "revealing" image choice.

It's amazing: a photo says more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", the official wrote on Telegram.

In light of the positive pictures of President Biden that that magazine displayed on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she said.

The answer to the president's inquiries – what did the editors intend, and why? – might involve creatively capturing a impression of strength says Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look commanding. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their importance and the president's visage actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It's rare you see photos of Trump in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Even though the feature's heading pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The publication contacted the periodical for a statement.