Shawe-Taylor was educated at Shrewsbury School, University College, Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. He was a lecturer in the History of Art Department of the University of Nottingham from 1979 to 1996, and director of Dulwich Picture Gallery from 1996 to 2005, when he was succeeded by Ian Dejardin. He has published several books: Genial Company: The Theme of Genius in Eighteenth-century British Portraiture, 1987; The Georgians: Eighteenth-century Portraiture and Society, 1990; Dramatic Art: Theatrical Paintings from the Garrick Club, 1997; Rembrandt to Gainsborough: Masterpieces from Dulwich Picture Gallery, 1999; Shakespeare in Art, 2003; Bruegel to Rubens: Masters of Flemish Painting, 2007; and The Conversation Piece: Scenes of Fashionable Life, 2009.