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It is a glowing article in a magazine that Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, he stated, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's tribute to Trump's role in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a photo of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

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

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on his preferred network.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that looked like a floating crown, but very tiny. Very odd! I have consistently disliked being photographed from below, but this is a super bad image, and it deserves to be called out. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to feature on Time magazine's front page and did so multiple times in the past year. The obsession has extended to Trump’s golf clubs – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fake issues exhibited in some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was taken by a photographer for a news agency at the White House on October 5.

The perspective was unflattering to his chin and neck area – a chance that California governor Newsom seized, with the governor's office tweeting a version with the criticized section pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel in Gaza have been liberated under the initial stage of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal may become a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a defence of Trump's image has come from a surprising origin: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to denounce the "damaging" photo selection.

It's amazing: a image says more about those who selected it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova shared on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that that magazine featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the case is self-damaging for the publication", she said.

The response to his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their grandeur and his expression actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

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

Few people appreciate being captured from low angles, and even if all of the artistic aspects of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for comment.