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It is a positive feature in a publication that Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's praise to Trump's role in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was accompanied by a image of the president shot from a low angle while the sun positioned behind him.

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

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was erased, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but extremely small. Truly strange! I have consistently disliked being shot from underneath, but this is a extremely poor image, and it deserves to be called out. What is their goal, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to appear on Time’s cover and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has reached the president's resorts – years ago, the publication requested to remove fake issues on display at some of his properties.

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

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office tweeting a version with the criticized section pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it may represent a key shift for that part of the world.

At the same time, a defense of the president’s appearance has emerged from an unexpected source: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry intervened to denounce the "revealing" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova wrote on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for Time", she added.

The answer to his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically technically is good," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look commanding. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their importance and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

His hair seems to vanish because the light from behind has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she adds. Even though the feature's heading pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The news outlet contacted the periodical for comment.