The story behind Central Park’s iconic Bethesda NYC fountain

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She's a beloved icon of New York City. A bronze angel with flowing robes and raised wings, she stands atop the Bethesda Fountain, the marvelous brick terrace in the middle of Central Park.

She's the Angel of the Waters, a symbol of love, rebirth, and healing to the millions who bask in her glorious presence.

Her creator was Emma Stebbins, a lesbian sculptor and a wildly successful artist in 19th-century America.

Yet she languished in obscurity after she retired in 1870, and her death in 1882 didn't even warrant an obituary.

Italian journalist Maria Teresa Cometto now tells her little-known story in "Emma and the Angel of Central Park," which came out on May 31, the 150th anniversary of the statue's Central Park debut.

Stebbins was born September 1, 1815, one of nine children born to a banking family.

She studied painting and sculpture at the National Academy of Design, downtown, but felt stifled in New York City.

At 41 years old, she boarded a ship to Italy, where she joined what novelist Henry James called the "strange sisterhood of American lady sculptors" who ditched the U.S. for la dolce vita in Rome.

There, Stebbins made her name and took up with the stage actress Charlotte Cushman, famed for playing both female and male roles, from Lady Macbeth to Romeo.

(She's rumored to be the model for Stebbins’ noble Angel.)

Stebbins came up with the idea for the Angel of the Waters while visiting her brother — then involved with the building of Central Park — in New York.

She saw the terrace and fountain and sketched a proposal for a statue of an angel with an extended hand, blessing the water and the people who gathered at her feet, inspired by the great fountains of Rome.

The Angel celebrated the new Croton Aqueduct, which supplied fresh water to a New York City previously plagued by infectious diseases.

When it debuted in 1873, some critics grumbled that the figure was too rough or manly, but the people loved it.

It has since appeared in countless films, from "Angels in America" to "Enchanted."

Most significantly, however, it has become a romantic destination, where couples get married or propose to their loved ones.

"I imagine Emma smiling happily as she watches the miracle that is repeated every day," writes Cometto. "The couples of all colors and makeup who from all over the world choose the square around the fountain in which to declare their love."