Born at Mantua, he received his instruction from his elder brother Jacob Frances and from Joseph Firmo of Ancona.
In addition to many occasional poems, Frances wrote, in conjunction with his brother Jacob, Wikkuaḥ Itiel we-Ukal, a dialogue on woman, and Wikkuaḥ Libni we-Shim'i, on his brother's poem against the cabalists.
Two of Immanuel's poems were published by Nepi-Ghirondi in "Toledot Gedole Yisrael" (pp.
Immanuel's best-known work is Meteḳ Sefatayim (written in Algiers), a treatise on Hebrew prosody, in which he makes use of a number of his own verses.
Prosodie von Immanuel Frances, 1892), and translated and thoroughly discussed by Martin Hartmann (Die Hebräische Verskunst, 1894).