diff --git a/src/display/drawing.cpp b/src/display/drawing.cpp
index bf203c898502d22f95ef665ca76d6c0d1553b08a..d01fb8d0a2733559ee70747f7742a799e7f00c2e 100644
--- a/src/display/drawing.cpp
+++ b/src/display/drawing.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <algorithm>
 
 #include "display/drawing.h"
+#include "display/control/canvas-item-drawing.h"
 #include "nr-filter-gaussian.h"
 #include "nr-filter-types.h"
 
@@ -161,6 +162,12 @@ Drawing::setGrayscaleMatrix(gdouble value_matrix[20]) {
         std::vector<gdouble> (value_matrix, value_matrix + 20) );
 }
 
+void
+Drawing::update(Geom::IntRect const &area)
+{
+    update(area, _canvas_item_drawing ? _canvas_item_drawing->get_context() : UpdateContext());
+}
+
 void
 Drawing::update(Geom::IntRect const &area, UpdateContext const &ctx, unsigned flags, unsigned reset)
 {
diff --git a/src/display/drawing.h b/src/display/drawing.h
index 2058f672b87c4f6386e11eca714cc529d353be75..4c44e9ce28ccbd4c63b0d7f102904524457220e6 100644
--- a/src/display/drawing.h
+++ b/src/display/drawing.h
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ public:
 
     void setGrayscaleMatrix(double value_matrix[20]);
 
-    void update(Geom::IntRect const &area = Geom::IntRect::infinite(), UpdateContext const &ctx = UpdateContext(), unsigned flags = DrawingItem::STATE_ALL, unsigned reset = 0);
+    void update(Geom::IntRect const &area = Geom::IntRect::infinite());
+    void update(Geom::IntRect const &area, UpdateContext const &ctx, unsigned flags = DrawingItem::STATE_ALL, unsigned reset = 0);
+ 
     void render(DrawingContext &dc, Geom::IntRect const &area, unsigned flags = 0, int antialiasing = -1);
     DrawingItem *pick(Geom::Point const &p, double delta, unsigned flags);