Donald Trump has called for a portrait of himself to be taken down from the Colorado state capitol, lashing out at the artist for “truly the worst” attempt to capture his features.

“Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves,” the president wrote, but the Colorado portrait was “purposely distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before”.

The painting depicts the president with a “serious, thoughtful, non-confontational” expression, Sarah Boardman, the British artist, said after it was commissioned in 2018.

In the artwork, Mr Trump’s lips are softly pursed, his cheeks and chin a little pudgy, and his hair less buoyant than in the president’s preferred portraits (several of which he subsequently posted).

“The artist also did President Obama,” Mr Trump wrote, “and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst.”

He added: “She must have lost her talent as she got older.”