The manuscript labeled Vaticanus Latinus 39 dates from the first half of the thirteenth century. It is richly illustrated and contains the text of the New Testament, but it might be the remainder or a known part of a whole Bible, or the surviving second volume of a two-volume work. The manuscript is thought to have been commissioned by the noble Zorzi family.

The Zorzi family (also known as Giorgi or Giorgio) was a patrician family of Venice that distinguished itself in the life of the Republic of St. Mark. Its members included Marino (doge from 1311 to 1312), Giorgio (born in 1582 and Venice’s ambassador to France, Holland and Poland), and Pier Antonio (1745-1803), appointed archbishop of Udine in 1792 and created cardinal in 1803.
The Zorzi family, who had homes in the Venetian contrada (parish) or sestiere (district) of Sant’Angelo, was one of the oldest and most illustrious of the Venetian nobility, so old and illustrious that it could claim to have contributed to the founding of the city. In the early ninth century, the Zorzis were already included among the ottimati (aristocratic) families of Venice. The family’s history can be followed through the ensuing centuries. In the thirteenth century it reached the peak of its power, and many of its members held leading positions in the city’s government.