diff --git a/libs/canvas/canvas.cc b/libs/canvas/canvas.cc
index ebebddbc2a..632dd8b70e 100644
--- a/libs/canvas/canvas.cc
+++ b/libs/canvas/canvas.cc
@@ -1067,7 +1067,7 @@ GtkCanvas::on_expose_event (GdkEventExpose* ev)
 			draw_context->set_identity_matrix();  //reset the cairo matrix, just in case someone left it transformed after drawing ( cough )
 
 			/* draw background color */
-			draw_context->rectangle (rects[n].x, rects[n].y, rects[n].x + rects[n].width, rects[n].y + rects[n].height);
+			draw_context->rectangle (rects[n].x, rects[n].y, rects[n].width, rects[n].height);
 			Gtkmm2ext::set_source_rgba (draw_context, _bg_color);
 			draw_context->fill ();