[4] His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels".

He probably studied the humanities with the Jesuit Silvestro Muzio and philosophy with Ridolfo Ricasoli and Camillo Camilli,[5] who in late 1590 had been appointed rettore delle scuole e professore di umane lettere in Ragusa.

At the age of thirty he married Nicoleta Sorkočević (Sorgo) (died 1644) who bore him three sons, Frano (Francesco), Mato (Matheo), Šišmundo "Šiško" (Segismondo) and two daughters, Marija "Mare" (Maria) Gondola and Dživa (Giovanna).

N°274, Adi le Xbre 1638 Ragusa) – he would probably have been elected knez (rector) of the Dubrovnik Republic, the highest function that was held for one month only by meritorious gentlemen at least fifty years old.

He then wrote his famous Suze sina razmetnoga (Tears of the Prodigal Son) in 1622, composed of three "Cries": Sagriešenje (Sin), Spoznanje (Insight) and Skrušenje (Humility).

In his greatest work, Osman, Gundulić presents the contrasts between Christianity and Islam, Europe and the Turks, West and East, and what he viewed as freedom and slavery.

By presenting the contrast of struggle between Christianity and Islam, Gundulić continued Marko Marulić's glorification of the fights against the invading Ottoman Turks.

Osman begins with the Sultan's grasping of the situation caused by the 1621 Ottoman defeat at Chocim and descriptions of how the era of pre-Ottoman glory of the Bulgarians, Serbs, Hungarians, Albanians and especially the Poles could be easily restored.

According to the storyline, Sultan Osman dispatched Ali-pasha to the Kingdom of Poland in order to negotiate peace and Kazlar-aga to choose which Polish noblewoman would suit him best for marriage.

At a charity concert held for the children of war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina in September 1995, Bono recited at the end of the song Miss Sarajevo the famous Ivan Gundulić verses: "O liepa, o draga, o slatka slobodo" ("Oh beautiful, oh precious, oh sweet Liberty").

[11] According to Marie-Janine Calic, professor of History at Ludwig Maximilian University, following the Counter-Reformation, a new symbiosis arose between the reformed Catholicism and the (re-)emerging Croatian identity, that undoubtedly influenced the local Baroque art.

[13] On the other hand, Gundulić's ethnicity is part of the Serb-Croat distinctions in self-identification of the Western South Slavic enlighteners, that was one of the major problems in 20th century Yugoslavia.