Roth studied with George Pieter Westenberg (1791-1873), an artist who specialized in landscapes and cityscapes. Roth lived most of his life in Amsterdam, where he became a member of the Royal Academy in 1839. In 1835-36 he made a study trip to Germany. Apart from some city views, such as the Cleveland painting, Roth usually painted landscapes, for example, the View in the Woods of Bentheim (1870, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), and he also made etchings.