Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented Donald Trump with a portrait by a well-knownRussian artist depicting the US president in the moments following the attempt on his life in July. In doing so, Putin may have found a way of playing to the vanity of the image-obsessed occupant of the White House.

Russias President Vladimir Putin is using a flattering work of art to curry favour with the White House.

A portrait of US President Donald Trumpin heroic pose, painted by Russian artist Nikas Safronov and given to the American president in March, wasunveiled by CNNand the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

The Kremlins gift portrait was inspired by the iconic image of then candidate Trump with fist raised and face bloodied, moments after the assassination attempt on him last year at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Putin's portraitist

The details of the portrait which Putin presented last month to Washington's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff had been something of a mystery.

Even White House aides preferred to say as little as possible. All that was known was thatTrump wasclearly touched by it, Witkoff said in an interview.

It was not clear whether the portrait has been checked for bugs.

But aCNN visit with Safronovthis week shed more light on the painting, about which Trump, not normally shy about self-promotion, had been unusually silent.

Trump would likely not have been disappointed by Safronovschoice of how todepicthim on canvas.

"Supposedly one of the most famous Russian artists, Safronovs commissionsinclude portraits of dozens of global leaders including Putin himself", says Natasha Lindstaedt, a specialist in authoritarian regimes at the University of Essex in the UK.

Othercelebrity portraits Safronovhas painted include Robert de Niro, Alain Delon, Sophia Loren and Madonna.

So with Safronov one of the official artists of the Kremlin wielding the paintbrush,Trump could expect five-star treatment. All the better to flatter the US president's ego.

A portrait of the survivor

The portrait contains all the elements to fulfil Trump's narcissistic bent, says Jrome Viala-Gaudefroy, faculty lecturer at Sciences Po university in Paris and author of the book, Les mots de Trump. Une rhtorique de rupture, (Trump's words. A rhetoric of rupture).

The picture isalmost a stereotypical depiction of a super-American protecting the country, says Lindstaedt. There is the backdrop of Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, the American flag."

It's also no coincidence that Safronov took as his model a Trump who had just escaped an attempt on his life.

"It was an important moment for him, because he then appeared to his supporters as all-powerful, capable of defying death. He became, for his base, a man whom nothing could stop in his mission to become president to protect the United States," Viala-Gaudefroy says.

"There's a sort of certain masculine hero look to the portrait, says Joanna Szostek, a specialist in Russian propaganda at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

The masculinity is very much depicted with the blood and the enormous flag. It's the patriot ready for violence"to defend his country that is suggested, she says.

For Szostek, this very manly representation of Trump also serves to create a link between him and Putin. The Russian president never misses an opportunity to glorify masculine strength for example, when he was depictedbare-chested on horsebackin the plains of Siberia.

Lindstaedt says the portrait is meant to underscore the close relationship between Putin and Trump and maintaining that bromance".

Portraits, portraits everywhere

Putin knows he is likely to score points with such a portrait. Trump has taken to hanging his likeness all over the White House lately. Hereplaced a portraitof former president Barack Obama with another painting of him after the assassination attempt in Butler in the White House lobby in early April. He hung another, in which an American flag is superimposed on a huge close-up of his face, right next to a more traditional portrait of Hillary Clinton, his unsuccessful rival in 2016.

"He's obsessed with Obama and Clinton and their popularity, particularly Obama, who many Americans see almost as like a rock star, Lindstaedt says. I mean, there isn't anyone more charismatic than Obama, and Trump is incredibly jealous of him."

Trump also has a preference for painted portraits, which are easier to improvethan photos.

"In the portrait offered by Russia, Donald Trump has clearly lost 15 kilos compared to reality. It's like being at the court of King Louis XIV, when portraits were customised to please the nobles," says Viala-Gaudefroy.

The club of (aspiring) autocrats

OfferingTrump aportrait may also be a way for Putin to signal that he recognises Trump as part of the club of (aspiring) autocrats, who share an obsession withimage.

In China, for example, President XI Jinping has personalised the Communist Party and personalised the Chinese communist regime, Lindstaedt says.It used to be more of a single-party dictatorship, but it's become a more personal regime. And one symptom is his portrait being everywhere."

Trump has taken pains to carefully inspect the quality of the paintings hung in his honour, pressuring the Colorado state Capitol to remove one in March that he claimed was "purposefully distorted".

"He was tweeting about this Colorado painting at a time when he had been driving the global economy into disarray, and that was what he was obsessed with, notes Lindstaedt.

This fixation with image is common to dictators, she notes. While they're kind of burning down their own countries, they're obsessed with these banal, petty things having to do with their own vanity.

At a time when Trump is putting pressure on Ukraine and Russia to end their war, Putins gift portrait is also self-serving.

"It shows that Putin hopes that Trump can be manipulated by flattery, says Szostek.It is part of a broader approach to the Trump administration" with the aim of rapprochement, she says.

For Szostek, its especially striking thatthe Kremlin would commission a painting featuring an enormous Star-Spangled Banner and the leader of a triumphant America.

After more than a decade of the Putin regime attacking the United States at every opportunity, and still criticising the American administration on state television, this is quite something."

"It really underlines how much they see Trump as a great opportunity for them and are ready to do anything to get what they want from him."

This article was translatedfrom theoriginal in Frenchby David Howley.

Originally published on France24