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This is a favorable feature in a publication that the president has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's praise to Trump's role in brokering a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photo of Trump captured from underneath while the sun behind his head.

The effect, the president asserts, is ""extremely poor".

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“They removed my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an remarkably little one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and should be criticized. What is their intention, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to be pictured on Time’s cover and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has extended to his golf courses – years ago, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers exhibited in some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by a photographer for a news agency at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – an opportunity that the governor of California Newsom took advantage of, with his press office sharing an altered image with the offending area blurred.

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

Simultaneously, a support for his portrayal has been offered by unusual quarters: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to criticise the "damaging" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Only sick people, people obsessed with malice and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", the official posted on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for Time", she noted.

The explanation for the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – might involve artistically representing a sense of power stated by a picture editor, a media professional.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look impressive. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their importance and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It's rare you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

His hair seems to vanish because the light from behind has bleached that section of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Although the feature's heading complements the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and although all of the artistic aspects of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The news outlet reached out to the periodical for comment.