Shen was born to an honoured and secure family and enjoyed a long life involved in the learned arts of poetry, painting, and calligraphy. His many paintings reveal an active concern with preserving the aesthetic discoveries of bygone ages as well as a similar concern with nature in its many manifestations (especially landscapes). However various in stylistic source and subject matter, Shen's art consistently bears his unique touch of an abiding confidence, restrained calmness, and subtle warmth. The ideal of his life and the accomplishments of his art have earned him reverence by all artists devoted to the ideals of the literati (wenren (wenrenhua)) tradition. Among his pupils was Wen Zhengming. At the time, the Wu school was considered to be in contrast to the “professional” artists of the Zhe school, in which Dai Jin held an equivalent place to Shen.