diff --git a/headers/private/servers/app/Painter.h b/headers/private/servers/app/Painter.h
index b8b2014eaa..d8d19606af 100644
--- a/headers/private/servers/app/Painter.h
+++ b/headers/private/servers/app/Painter.h
@@ -311,6 +311,7 @@ class Painter {
 	// font file, it uses the FontManager to locate a file
 	// by Family and Style
 	AGGTextRenderer*			fTextRenderer;
+	uint32						fLastFamilyAndStyle;
 };
 
 // SetHighColor
diff --git a/headers/private/servers/app/ServerFont.h b/headers/private/servers/app/ServerFont.h
index 5c7925cdcf..61728c3b90 100644
--- a/headers/private/servers/app/ServerFont.h
+++ b/headers/private/servers/app/ServerFont.h
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ public:
 	const char *GetPath(void) const { return fStyle->GetPath(); }
 	uint16 StyleID(void) const { return fStyle->GetID(); }
 	uint16 FamilyID(void) const { return fStyle->Family()->GetID(); }
-	uint32 GetFamilyAndStyle(void);
+	uint32 GetFamilyAndStyle(void) const;
 
 	BRect BoundingBox(void);
 	void Height(font_height *fh);
diff --git a/src/servers/app/ServerFont.cpp b/src/servers/app/ServerFont.cpp
index 9665bcbc8f..2a6de1e197 100644
--- a/src/servers/app/ServerFont.cpp
+++ b/src/servers/app/ServerFont.cpp
@@ -213,7 +213,7 @@ status_t ServerFont::SetFamilyAndStyle(const uint32 &fontID)
 	\brief Gets the ID values for the ServerFont instance in one shot
 	\return the combination of family and style ID numbers
 */
-uint32 ServerFont::GetFamilyAndStyle(void)
+uint32 ServerFont::GetFamilyAndStyle(void) const
 {
 	uint32 famsty=0;
 	
diff --git a/src/servers/app/drawing/Painter/Painter.cpp b/src/servers/app/drawing/Painter/Painter.cpp
index 1913a7ff3a..6609b8af95 100644
--- a/src/servers/app/drawing/Painter/Painter.cpp
+++ b/src/servers/app/drawing/Painter/Painter.cpp
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ Painter::Painter()
 	  fPenLocation(0.0, 0.0),
 	  fPatternHandler(new PatternHandler()),
 	  fFont(be_plain_font),
-	  fTextRenderer(new AGGTextRenderer())
+	  fTextRenderer(new AGGTextRenderer()),
+	  fLastFamilyAndStyle(0)
 {
 	_UpdateFont();
 	_UpdateLineWidth();
@@ -276,8 +277,11 @@ Painter::SetFont(const ServerFont& font)
 	fFont.SetShear(font.Shear());
 	fFont.SetRotation(font.Rotation());
 	fFont.SetSize(font.Size());
-	
-	_UpdateFont(font.GetPath());
+
+	if (fLastFamilyAndStyle != font.GetFamilyAndStyle()) {
+		fLastFamilyAndStyle = font.GetFamilyAndStyle();
+		_UpdateFont(font.GetPath());
+	}
 }
 
 // #pragma mark -
@@ -1034,19 +1038,23 @@ Painter::_RebuildClipping()
 void
 Painter::_UpdateFont(const char* pathToFontFile)
 {
+	bool success = false;
 	if (pathToFontFile) {
-		fTextRenderer->SetFont(pathToFontFile);
+		success = fTextRenderer->SetFont(pathToFontFile);
+		if (!success)
+			fprintf(stderr, "unable to set '%s'\n", pathToFontFile);
 	} else {
 		font_family family;
 		font_style style;
 		fFont.GetFamilyAndStyle(&family, &style);
 	
-		bool success = fTextRenderer->SetFamilyAndStyle(family, style);
-		if (!success) {
+		success = fTextRenderer->SetFamilyAndStyle(family, style);
+		if (!success)
 			fprintf(stderr, "unable to set '%s' + '%s'\n", family, style);
-			fprintf(stderr, "font is still: '%s' + '%s'\n",
-							fTextRenderer->Family(), fTextRenderer->Style());
-		}
+	}
+	if (!success) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "font is still: '%s' + '%s'\n",
+						fTextRenderer->Family(), fTextRenderer->Style());
 	}
 
 	fTextRenderer->SetPointSize(fFont.Size());