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It is a favorable article in a periodical that Donald Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's paean to Trump's role in mediating a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was accompanied by a image of Trump captured from underneath and with the sun shining from the back.

The outcome, the president asserts, is "super bad".

"The publication wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on his preferred network.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that appeared as a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Really weird! I always disliked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and deserves to be called out. What is their intention, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to feature on the cover of Time and did so multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has made it as far as the president's resorts – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fake issues on display at a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was shot by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that California governor Newsom seized, with his press office sharing an altered image with the offending area obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement could be a signature achievement of his next term, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defense of Trump's image has come from unusual quarters: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to criticise the "revealing" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photo exposes those who picked it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova shared on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication used on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she added.

The response to Trump’s questions – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says a picture editor, a media professional.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she says. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look commanding. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their majesty and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

His hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she explains. Even though the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and although all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The Guardian reached out to the magazine for a statement.