diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index 6c02ed270ad0..e25c9054c7e8 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@
 
 import sys
 
-__version__  = '1.3.0rc1'
+__version__  = '1.3.0rc2'
 __version__numpy__ = '1.4' # minimum required numpy version
 
 try: