Russell had observed bears since his early days in Montana, and he made many wax models of them. He also owned a copy of William T. Hornaday’s The American Natural History (1903), which contained well-illustrated articles on wildlife. Like Russell, Hornaday was concerned about the disappearance of such large animals as the grizzly. “In all parts of the United States save the Yellowstone Park and the Clearwater Mountains of Idaho, the Grizzly is now a rare animal, and so difficult to find that it is almost useless to seek it this side of British Columbia,” he wrote. Russell had seen the bears and other large game grow increasingly scarce, and he often spoke in favor of measures that would preserve their disappearing habitat. The bronze depicts the mother grizzly lifting a rock so her cubs can gather up the tasty grubs and tender plant roots that lay underneath. In his early days in Montana as an apprentice to the trapper and hunter Jake Hoover, Russell doubtless witnessed such activities, and his depiction here is very naturalistic. The artist probably first modeled this subject in the summer or early fall of 1910. The ledgers for Roman Bronze Works (now in the museum’s archives), record a total of seven casts between November 12, 1910, and May 18, 1911, at a unit cost of $16. A copy of the bronze was exhibited at the International Art Exhibition in Rome in 1911, a singular honor for the artist. Russell himself later modeled a larger version of the same subject, and only seven casts of The Lunch Hour were thought to have been made. The bronze is therefore comparatively rare.