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It is a positive story in a periodical that Donald Trump has consistently praised – except for one issue. The cover picture, the president decreed, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time magazine's paean to Trump's role in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was accompanied by a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

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

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", he shared on his social media platform.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that resembled a hovering tiara, but an very tiny one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and should be criticized. Why did they do this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to feature on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it four times last year. The preoccupation has extended to the president's resorts – previously, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages shown in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on October 5.

Its angle was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opportunity that California governor Newsom did not miss, with his communications team tweeting a version with the problematic part obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement could be a major success of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the region.

At the same time, a defence of the president’s appearance has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to condemn the "damaging" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photograph exposes those who picked it than about the person in it. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and hatred –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", the official posted on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that that magazine used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for the magazine", she added.

The response to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a sense of power stated by an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look heroic. Gazing upward creates an impression of their importance and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she adds. And, while the story’s headline marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for comment.