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It is a glowing article in a periodical that Donald Trump has long exalted – with one exception. The cover picture, he stated, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Donald Trump's part in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a image of the president taken from below while the sun behind his head.

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

"Time wrote a fairly positive 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 seemed like a hovering crown, but very tiny. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it merits criticism. What is their goal, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to feature on Time’s cover and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has extended to the president's resorts – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues exhibited in several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on October 5.

Its angle was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – a chance that the governor of California Newsom seized, with the governor's office sharing an altered image with the problematic part blurred.

{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been liberated under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal could be a signature achievement of his next term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

Simultaneously, a defense of Trump's image has come from unusual quarters: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs stepped in to condemn the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photo exposes those who selected it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and hatred –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she said.

The response to the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with innovatively depicting a sense of power according to Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The photograph technically technically is good," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted trump to look heroic. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their majesty and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the photo appears gentle."

His hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Even though the article's title complements his facial expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not complimentary."

The Guardian contacted the periodical for comment.