diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4ca24aa38..0df692407 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -520,7 +520,7 @@ fi
 AC_SUBST(JSON_PREFIX)
 AM_CONDITIONAL(LOCAL_JSON_GLIB, test "x$have_json" = "xno")
 
-CLUTTER_REQUIRES="pangocairo >= 1.18 gobject-2.0 >= 2.16 gthread-2.0 gmodule-no-export-2.0 $BACKEND_PC_FILES $JSON_GLIB_PC"
+CLUTTER_REQUIRES="cairo >= 1.4 pangocairo >= 1.18 gobject-2.0 >= 2.16 gthread-2.0 gmodule-no-export-2.0 $BACKEND_PC_FILES $JSON_GLIB_PC"
 
 if test "x$imagebackend" = "xgdk-pixbuf"; then
         CLUTTER_REQUIRES="$CLUTTER_REQUIRES gdk-pixbuf-2.0"