Roll studied at École des Beaux-Arts, where he was taught by Jean-Léon Gérôme, Henri-Joseph Harpignies, Charles-François Daubigny and Léon Bonnat.

[1] His 1875 painting of "The Flood at Toulouse" attracted huge attention, and it is now in the Musée Malraux (Le Havre).

It was at this point Roll decided to devote his work to painting everyday life, and his style changed as well to a more realist one.

[2] and was commissioned to paint numerous art pieces, including those of murals, ceilings, and other building decoration.

President Carnot at Versailles at the Centenary of the Etats Generaux, now at Versailles Palace, and The Tzar and President Faure laying the Foundation Stone of the Alexandre III Bridge are two such paintings, and The Pleasures of Life and The Rosetime of Youth were both for the Hotel de Ville.