Frans Huygelen was born in Antwerp, Belgium on 19 August 1878 and studied at the Koninklijke Académie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, and under Thomas Vinçotte at the Nationaal Hoger Instituut voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. He subsequently worked primarily as a painter, sculptor and medallist. He was also a professor at the Koninklijke Académie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. He exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh in 1914. His address that year was given as 72 Rue de Bruxelles, Uccle, Brussels. In the years following World War One he was commissioned by the Belgian Government to design a number of war memorials. He created bas-reliefs for the Maison du Heaume, Grand-Place in Brussels, Huygelen was a member of De Scalden a group of artists active in Antwerp from 1889 to 1914.

He died in Uccle, Belgium on 5 November 1940.