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It is a glowing story in a publication that the president has consistently praised – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's tribute to the president's involvement in facilitating a truce for Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a image of the president captured from underneath while the sun shining from the back.

The result, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“My hair was erased, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Very odd! I have never liked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has extended to Trump’s golf clubs – previously, the magazine asked him to remove mocked up covers shown in a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that California governor Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with the governor's office tweeting a version with the problematic part blurred.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement may become a major success of Trump's second term, and it may represent a key shift for that part of the world.

At the same time, a defence of his portrayal has emerged from a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to condemn the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

"It’s astonishing: a image exposes those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova posted on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that the periodical featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she added.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a impression of strength according to an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Gazing upward gives a sense of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the article's title complements Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the person photographed."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not complimentary."

The news outlet approached the magazine for comment.