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This is a glowing feature in a periodical that Trump has long exalted – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's paean to the president's involvement in mediating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photo of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

The effect, he says, is "super bad".

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

“My hair was erased, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a hovering crown, but very tiny. Really weird! I have always hated being shot from underneath, but this is a awful image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has extended to his golf courses – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The perspective highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that the governor of California Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the offending area pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Trump's ceasefire agreement, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement could be a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a key shift for the Middle East.

At the same time, a defence of the president’s appearance has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to condemn the "self-incriminating" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph exposes those who selected it than about the subject. Only sick people, people obsessed with malice and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", the official wrote on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The answer to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a impression of strength stated by a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself technically is good," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their importance and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the photo appears gentle."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. Although the article's title pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The Guardian approached the periodical for feedback.