As a patron of the arts and with the advice of the legendary Alfred H. Barr Jr., Cintas assembled a collection of Old Masters and modern paintings that was once considered among the best in Latin America.
In 1940, he lent one of the pieces from the collection, Rembrandt's Portrait of a Rabbi on a Wide Cap, to the "Masterpieces of Art" exhibition at the New York World's Fair.
Before his death, Cintas entrusted the administration of his estate, including his art collection, to The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., with Ethan Alyea serving as legal counsel.
Cintas' foresight has resulted in more than 300 fellowships and grants to creative writers, architects, composers, visual artists and filmmakers, many of whom have later achieved national and international renown.
Past recipients include the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos, author and scholar Uva de Aragón, the playwright Maria Irene Fornes, painters Carlos Alfonzo and Emilio Falero, the photographer Andres Serrano,[1] the architect Andrés Duany, the poet Silvia Curbelo, sculptors María Elena González and Rafael Consuegra, as well as the composer Orlando Garcia.