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This is a glowing article in a magazine that Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, he stated, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to Trump's role in facilitating a truce for Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photo of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun positioned behind him.

The effect, he says, is "super bad".

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on Truth Social.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that resembled a hovering tiara, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and merits public condemnation. Why did they do this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has extended to the president's resorts – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by a photographer for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.

The perspective was unflattering to his chin and neck area – a chance that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the problematic part blurred.

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been released under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement may become a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

At the same time, a support for Trump's image has come from an unexpected source: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "revealing" photo selection.

It's amazing: a photo exposes those who picked it than about the subject. Only sick people, people obsessed with malice and hatred –perhaps even perverts – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that the same publication featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she added.

The answer to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power according to an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look impressive. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see photos of Trump in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. And, while the article's title pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The Guardian approached the magazine for comment.