The moon shines through a window, its light falling on a chair and a table holding a bottle and three tomatoes.

A toy horse, a locomotive and a Santa Claus ornament sit among discarded ribbons and ornaments.

A car approaches from the distance along a wooded lane on a rainy night, its headlights and their reflections the only bright spots in the engulfing gloom.

Each of these quiet scenes was created by Pierre Le-Tan, one of Paris’s pre-eminent illustrators, and each became a cover for The New Yorker, three of the 18 he made during a long, eclectic career. His work, often conveying whimsy, melancholy or nostalgia, was shown in art galleries and museums, and he illustrated and wrote books and collaborated with major fashion brands.

He died on Sept. 17 at a cancer research institute in Villejuif, France. He was 69 . The cause was cancer, his family said.