diff --git a/src/cairo-image-surface-private.h b/src/cairo-image-surface-private.h
index 3951793c1..cef2d753a 100644
--- a/src/cairo-image-surface-private.h
+++ b/src/cairo-image-surface-private.h
@@ -50,6 +50,19 @@ struct _cairo_image_surface {
 
     pixman_image_t *pixman_image;
     const cairo_compositor_t *compositor;
+
+    /* Parenting is tricky wrt lifetime tracking...
+     *
+     * One use for tracking the parent of an image surface is for
+     * create_similar_image() where we wish to create a device specific
+     * surface but return an image surface to the user. In such a case,
+     * the image may be owned by the device specific surface, its parent,
+     * but the user lifetime tracking is then performed on the image. So
+     * when the image is then finalized we call cairo_surface_destroy()
+     * on the parent. However, for normal usage where the lifetime tracking
+     * is done on the parent surface, we need to be careful to unhook
+     * the image->parent pointer before finalizing the image.
+     */
     cairo_surface_t *parent;
 
     pixman_format_code_t pixman_format;
diff --git a/src/cairo-image-surface.c b/src/cairo-image-surface.c
index 66f024c56..982bf45d0 100644
--- a/src/cairo-image-surface.c
+++ b/src/cairo-image-surface.c
@@ -813,6 +813,11 @@ _cairo_image_surface_finish (void *abstract_surface)
 	surface->data = NULL;
     }
 
+    if (surface->parent) {
+	cairo_surface_destroy (surface->parent);
+	surface->parent = NULL;
+    }
+
     return CAIRO_STATUS_SUCCESS;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/win32/cairo-win32-display-surface.c b/src/win32/cairo-win32-display-surface.c
index 1b5d47edb..ac37cbf00 100644
--- a/src/win32/cairo-win32-display-surface.c
+++ b/src/win32/cairo-win32-display-surface.c
@@ -405,8 +405,12 @@ _cairo_win32_display_surface_finish (void *abstract_surface)
 {
     cairo_win32_display_surface_t *surface = abstract_surface;
 
-    if (surface->image)
+    if (surface->image) {
+	/* Unhook ourselves first to avoid the double-unref from the image */
+	surface->image->parent = NULL;
+	cairo_surface_finish (surface->image);
 	cairo_surface_destroy (surface->image);
+    }
 
     /* If we created the Bitmap and DC, destroy them */
     if (surface->bitmap) {