A native of Stuttgart, Germany, Ernest David Roth immigrated to the United States with his parents and settled in New York City in 1884. He studied painting at the National Academy of Design and etching with James David Smillie (1833-1909). He spent several years in Europe before returning to New York. Roth was a member of the National Academy, the New York Water Color Club, and the Salmagundi Club in New York, and the Washington Watercolor Club in Washington, D.C. He exhibited throughout the country and won numerous prizes, including a gold medal at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in 1930 and a medal at the Philadelphia Print Club in 1934.