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This is a favorable article in a periodical that Donald Trump has long exalted – but for one catch. The cover picture, he stated, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's paean to Trump's role in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photograph of the president shot from a low angle while the sun shining from the back.

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

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

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was something floating my head that looked like a floating crown, but very tiny. Truly strange! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What is their goal, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so multiple times in the past year. The obsession has reached the president's resorts – years ago, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers shown in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was taken by a photographer for a news agency at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The perspective highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – a chance that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his press office tweeting a version with the problematic part pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The arrangement may become a major success of his next term, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a support for his portrayal has emerged from an unexpected source: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office intervened to denounce the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's amazing: a image says more about those who selected it than about the subject. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and hatred –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova shared on her social channel.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the same publication featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for the publication", she said.

The response to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power according to Carly Earl, a media professional.

The image itself technically is good," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look impressive. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the picture feels tender."

His hair seems to vanish because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, generating a radiant circle, she adds. Although the feature's heading complements the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The publication approached the magazine for comment.