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It is a positive story in a publication that Trump has long exalted – but for one catch. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's paean to the president's involvement in mediating a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was accompanied by a photo of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

The effect, Trump claims, is ""extremely poor".

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the image may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“They eliminated my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an very tiny one. Really weird! I always disliked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. What is their intention, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown obvious his ambition to appear on Time’s cover and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has made it as far as his golf courses – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fake issues exhibited in a few of his establishments.

The most recent cover image was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – an opportunity that the governor of California Gavin Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the offending area blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement could be a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it might signify a key shift for the region.

Simultaneously, a defense of his portrayal has come from a surprising origin: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "revealing" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a image reveals far more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", she shared on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she added.

The response to the president's inquiries – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a impression of strength stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself technically is good," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their importance and his expression actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair seems to vanish because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the feature's heading marries well with his facial expression in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being photographed from below, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the appearance are unflattering."

The Guardian approached the magazine for a statement.