diff --git a/libs/canvas/text.cc b/libs/canvas/text.cc
index 5707192b96..6b7d2ce436 100644
--- a/libs/canvas/text.cc
+++ b/libs/canvas/text.cc
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <gtkmm/window.h>
 #include <gtkmm/label.h>
 
+#include "pbd/compose.h"
 #include "pbd/stacktrace.h"
 
 #include "canvas/text.h"
@@ -194,10 +195,11 @@ Text::render (Rect const & area, Cairo::RefPtr<Cairo::Context> context) const
 		return;
 	}
 
-	Rect self = item_to_window (Rect (_position.x, _position.y, _position.x + min (_clamped_width, (double)_image->get_width ()), _position.y + _image->get_height ()));
-	Rect i = self.intersection (area);
+	const Rect r (0, 0, min (_clamped_width, (double)_image->get_width ()), _image->get_height ());
+	Rect self = item_to_window (r);
+	Rect intersection = self.intersection (area);
 
-	if (!i) {
+	if (!intersection) {
 		return;
 	}
 
@@ -205,8 +207,6 @@ Text::render (Rect const & area, Cairo::RefPtr<Cairo::Context> context) const
 		_redraw ();
 	}
 
-	Rect intersection (i);
-
 	context->rectangle (intersection.x0, intersection.y0, intersection.width(), intersection.height());
 #ifdef __APPLE__
 	/* Below, the rendering scaling is set to support retina display