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This is a glowing story in a periodical that Donald Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The front-page image, he stated, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Donald Trump's part in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a photograph of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun behind his head.

The outcome, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that seemed like a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being shot from underneath, but this is a awful image, and it should be denounced. What is their goal, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to be pictured on Time magazine's front page and achieved this four times last year. This fixation has made it as far as Trump’s golf clubs – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages exhibited in some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – a chance that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office sharing an altered image with the offending area pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been released under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement might turn into a major success of his next term, and it may represent a pivotal moment for that part of the world.

At the same time, a support for the president’s appearance has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to denounce the "revealing" picture decision.

It's amazing: a photograph reveals far more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the periodical featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she said.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a sense of power according to a picture editor, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the story’s headline marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for a statement.