diff --git a/R/plot-render.r b/R/plot-render.r
index 5ea6e3a916..cc4b54a61c 100644
--- a/R/plot-render.r
+++ b/R/plot-render.r
@@ -149,9 +149,9 @@ ggplot_gtable <- function(data) {
   plot_table <- gtable_add_rows(plot_table, theme$plot.margin[3])
   plot_table <- gtable_add_cols(plot_table, theme$plot.margin[4], pos = 0)
 
-  if (inherits(theme$plot.background, "theme")) {
+  if (inherits(theme$plot.background, "element")) {
     plot_table <- gtable_add_grob(plot_table,
-      theme_render(theme, "plot.background", vp = "background"),
+      element_render(theme, "plot.background"),
       t = 1, l = 1, b = -1, r = -1, name = "background", z = -Inf)
     plot_table$layout <- plot_table$layout[c(nrow(plot_table$layout), 1:(nrow(plot_table$layout) - 1)),]
     plot_table$grobs <- plot_table$grobs[c(nrow(plot_table$layout), 1:(nrow(plot_table$layout) - 1))]
diff --git a/visual_test/themes.r b/visual_test/themes.r
index 0a21d3dc81..f463a39497 100644
--- a/visual_test/themes.r
+++ b/visual_test/themes.r
@@ -66,4 +66,11 @@ p + t
 save_vtest("text is element_blank - result is no text")
 
 
+# Testing specific elements
+p + theme(axis.text = element_blank(), axis.ticks = element_blank(),
+          axis.title = element_blank(), axis.ticks.margin = unit(0, "cm"),
+          plot.background = element_rect(fill = "lightblue"),
+          panel.border = element_rect(colour = "black", size = 4, fill = NA))
+save_vtest("many blank items, and light blue plot background")
+
 end_vcontext()
\ No newline at end of file