1Premising that those are two distinct properties, in your specific example there's no difference in the result, since background actually is a shorthand for
2background-color
3background-image
4background-position
5background-repeat
6background-attachment
7background-clip
8background-origin
9background-size
10
11background: white url(images/image1.jpg) top left repeat;
12background: black;
13
14background: url(example.jpg) no-repeat center center #fff;
15background-image: url(example.jpg);
16background-position: center center;
17background-repeat: no-repeat;
18background-color: #fff;