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This is a positive article in a publication that Trump has consistently praised – except for one issue. The cover picture, Trump declared, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's praise to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a image of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

The effect, he says, is ""extremely poor".

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on his social media platform.

“They removed my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that appeared as a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Truly strange! I consistently avoided taking pictures from below viewpoints, but this is a super bad picture, and should be criticized. Why did they do this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has made it as far as Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the publication requested to remove fake issues on display at a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was shot by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that California governor Gavin Newsom seized, with his press office sharing an altered image with the problematic part pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, alongside a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement could be a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the region.

Meanwhile, a defence of his portrayal has come from a surprising origin: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to condemn the "damaging" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo reveals far more about those who chose it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", she shared on her social channel.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for the magazine", she added.

The response to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – might involve innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their majesty and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

The president's hair seems to vanish because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she explains. Even though the feature's heading marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the person photographed."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The Guardian contacted the periodical for a statement.