diff --git a/src/frontends/xforms/ChangeLog b/src/frontends/xforms/ChangeLog
index 604dbed832..3bc05cbad1 100644
--- a/src/frontends/xforms/ChangeLog
+++ b/src/frontends/xforms/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2002-03-07  Angus Leeming  <a.leeming@ic.ac.uk>
+
+	* xformsGImage.C (statusCB, errorCB): close the file streams once the
+	image is loaded or if an error occurs.
+	(init_graphics): FLIMAGE_SETUP setup must be static as xforms stores
+	it permanently (and does not make a copy!).
+
 2002-03-05  Angus Leeming  <a.leeming@ic.ac.uk>
 
 	* xformsGImage.[Ch]: new files. An image loader based on xforms library
diff --git a/src/frontends/xforms/xformsGImage.C b/src/frontends/xforms/xformsGImage.C
index 0a7590768c..bcaa69f488 100644
--- a/src/frontends/xforms/xformsGImage.C
+++ b/src/frontends/xforms/xformsGImage.C
@@ -308,8 +308,14 @@ void xformsGImage::statusCB(string const & status_message)
 		return;
 
 	if (prefixIs(status_message, "Done Reading")) {
-		on_finish_->emit(true);
-		on_finish_.reset();
+		if (image_) {
+			flimage_close(image_);
+		}
+
+		if (on_finish_.get()) {
+			on_finish_->emit(true);
+			on_finish_.reset();
+		}
 	}
 }
 
@@ -319,8 +325,14 @@ void xformsGImage::errorCB(string const & error_message)
 	if (error_message.empty() || !on_finish_.get())
 		return;
 
-	on_finish_->emit(false);
-	on_finish_.reset();
+	if (image_) {
+		flimage_close(image_);
+	}
+
+	if (on_finish_.get()) {
+		on_finish_->emit(false);
+		on_finish_.reset();
+	}
 }
 
 } // namespace grfx
@@ -398,7 +410,9 @@ void init_graphics()
 	flimage_enable_xwd();
 	flimage_enable_xpm();
 
-	FLIMAGE_SETUP setup;
+	// xforms stores this permanently (does not make a copy) so
+	// this should never be destroyed.
+	static FLIMAGE_SETUP setup;
 	setup.visual_cue    = status_report;
 	setup.error_message = error_report;
 	flimage_setup(&setup);