Attempt to call field 'nowImageRect' (a nil value)

I am just getting started and I am following the tutorial.  My total program at this point is 

local background = display.nowImageRect(“background.png”, 360, 570)

background.x = display.contentCenterX

background.y = display.contentCenterY

When I try to run it I get an error on the first line ( local background = ) that says

ERROR: Runtime error

                    main.lua:7: attempt to call field ‘nowImageRect’ (a nil value)

                    stack traceback:

                    main.lua:7: in main chunk

I have no idea what is going on as I haven’t used nowImageRect as far as I know.  What am I doing wrong so early in the game?

I am using an iMac OS version 10.13.3.  The background.png  is in the same folder, same level, as main.lua.  background.png was downloaded from the the source files link supplied in the instructions and if I double click background.png, it opens in preview.

Alan

The API call should be display._new_ImageRect() not display.nowImageRect()

Rob

The API call should be display._new_ImageRect() not display.nowImageRect()

Rob