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It is a positive feature in a magazine that Donald Trump has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's tribute to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a photo of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun positioned behind him.

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

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on his social media platform.

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was something floating my head that appeared as a floating crown, but quite miniature. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a extremely poor image, and it deserves to be called out. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has extended to Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages shown in several of his venues.

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

The perspective did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – a chance that the governor of California Newsom seized, with his communications team posting a modified photo with the problematic part blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been released under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a Palestinian prisoner release. This agreement may become a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

Meanwhile, a defence of his portrayal has emerged from a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry intervened to denounce the "damaging" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photo exposes those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova wrote on the messaging platform.

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

The answer to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – may be something to do with innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically technically is good," she says. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look impressive. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their importance and his expression actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the rear illumination has bleached that section of the image, producing a glowing aura, she adds. And, while the article's title marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the person photographed."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the appearance are not complimentary."

The Guardian approached Time magazine for comment.