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This is a positive feature in a magazine that Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The front-page image, he stated, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's praise to the president's involvement in mediating a truce for Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was accompanied by a photograph of the president captured from underneath and with the sun behind his head.

The result, the president asserts, is "super bad".

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“My hair was erased, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a suspended diadem, but very tiny. Very odd! I have always hated being photographed from below, but this is a extremely poor image, and it deserves to be called out. What is their goal, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has reached the president's resorts – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fake issues exhibited in several of his venues.

The latest edition’s photo was captured by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on 5 October.

Its angle did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – a chance that California governor Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his press office sharing an altered image with the criticized section pixelated.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement might turn into a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

At the same time, a defence of the president’s appearance has been offered by unusual quarters: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to denounce the "damaging" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Just unwell persons, people obsessed with malice and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova posted on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine used on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she added.

The response to the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a impression of strength stated by an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It's rare you see photos of Trump in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she adds. Even though the article's title complements Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the person photographed."

Nobody enjoys being photographed from below, and while all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the appearance are unflattering."

The Guardian contacted the periodical for a statement.