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This is a positive article in a magazine that Donald Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The front-page image, he stated, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's praise to Trump's role in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was presented alongside a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun positioned behind him.

The result, he says, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on his social media platform.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a hovering tiara, but an remarkably little one. Really weird! I always disliked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a terrible picture, and should be criticized. Why did they do this, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to feature on Time’s cover and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has extended to his golf courses – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in 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 – an opportunity that California governor Newsom took advantage of, with his press office posting a modified photo with the offending area pixelated.

{The Israeli captives held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The deal could be a major success of Trump's second term, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the Middle East.

At the same time, a support for Trump's image has been offered by a surprising origin: the spokesperson at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to criticise the "revealing" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people obsessed with malice and animosity –perhaps even perverts – could have chosen such a photo", the official shared on Telegram.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she added.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself technically is good," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their importance and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and even if all of the artistic aspects of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The Guardian reached out to Time magazine for comment.