diff --git a/rtgui/rtscalable.cc b/rtgui/rtscalable.cc
index 78202326a..fda143c4d 100644
--- a/rtgui/rtscalable.cc
+++ b/rtgui/rtscalable.cc
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ Cairo::RefPtr<Cairo::ImageSurface> RTScalable::loadImage(const Glib::ustring &fn
     c->set_operator (Cairo::OPERATOR_OVER);
     c->scale(r, r);
     rsvg_handle_render_cairo(handle, c->cobj());
-    rsvg_handle_free(handle);
+    g_object_unref(handle);
 
     // -------------------- Saving the image in cache --------------------