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This is a favorable feature in a periodical that Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's praise to Trump's role in mediating a truce for Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a image of the president captured from underneath while the sun positioned behind him.

The result, the president asserts, is ""extremely poor".

"The publication wrote a quite favorable 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 a shape drifting on top of my head that looked like a hovering tiara, but an remarkably little one. Quite bizarre! I never liked taking pictures from below viewpoints, but this is a extremely poor picture, and merits public condemnation. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so multiple times in the past year. This fixation has made it as far as the president's resorts – in 2017, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages shown in several of his venues.

This issue's photograph was taken by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his press office sharing an altered image with the criticized section pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement may become a major success of his next term, and it could mark a key shift for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defense of the president’s appearance has come from an unexpected source: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to condemn the "revealing" picture decision.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only sick people, people obsessed with malice and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", the official shared on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of President Biden that that magazine featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the case is self-damaging for Time", she noted.

The explanation for his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a sense of power stated by an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The image itself is well-executed," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their grandeur and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

His hair looks erased because the light from behind has bleached that section of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Even though the story’s headline complements Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and while all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The news outlet approached the magazine for feedback.